Seaboard Rice Milling Co. v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co.
270 U.S. 363
SCOTUS
1926
Check Treatment
Mr. Justice Sanford

delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is an action at law brought by the Milling Cbm-pany against the Railway Company, in the District Court. for the Eastern District of Missouri, to recover the sum of $3,035.73 for damages alleged to have been sustained through the negligеnce of the Railway Company, the initial carrier, and its connecting carriers, in the interstate transportation of rice shipped from Arkansas to New York. The Railway Company, apрearing specially, filed a plea to the jurisdiction, on the ground that neither it, nor the Milling Company was a resident or inhabitant of the district. This plea was sustained, ydthout opinion, and the suit was dismissed for wаnt of jurisdiction. This direct writ of error was allowed and the jurisdictional question certified, in February, 1925, under § 238 of the Judicial Code. . .

The Railway .Company has interposed a motion to affirm the judgment, upon thе ground that the question *365 upon which the decision depends is so' unsubstantial ‍​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌‍as not to need further argumеnt. Hodges v. Snyder, 261 U. S. 600, 601. This motion must be granted.

The declaration and the testimony heard upon the plea show that the Milling Company is a corporation organized under the laws of Texas; and that the Railway Company is a corрoration organized under the laws of Illinois and Iowa, having its principal office in Chicago, but maintaining a branch office and operating a branch line within the eastern district of Missouri.

Sectiоn 51 of the Judicial Code, which deals with the venue of suits originally begun in the District Courts— re-enacting in -part а similar provision in the, Judiciary Act of 1888. 1 provides, subject to .certain exceptions not material here, that “ no civil suit shall be brought in any district court against any person, by any original process or proceeding in any other , district, than that whereof he is an inhabitant;.butwherethe jurisdiction is foundеd only on the fact that jhe .áetion . is between citizens of different States, suit shall be brought only ‍​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌‍in the district of the residence of either thé plaintiff or the defendant.”. That is to say, the suit, must be brought within the district. of which.thе defendant is an inhabitant, unless the general federal-jurisdiction is founded upon diversity of citizenship alone, in which ease it must be brought either in that district or in the district in which the plaintiff resides.

.While this provision dоes not limit the general jurisdiction of the District Courts, it confers a personal privilege on the dеfendant, which he may assert, or may waive, at his election, if sued in some other district. Lee v. Chesapeake Railway, 260 U. S. 653, 655; and cases cited. If this privilege is seasonably asserted, the suit must be dismissed for want, of jurisdiction over the persоn of the defendant. Macon Grocery Co. v. Atlantic Coast Line, 215 U. S. 501, 510; and cases cited.

*366 It is immaterial whether the general federal jurisdiction in thé present suit is founded upon diversity of citizenship alone, or whether the suit is also one arising under the laws of the United States, since neither the Milling Company nor the Railway Company is a resident of ‍​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌‍the Eastern District of Missouri; a сorporation being, within the meaning of the jurisdictional statutes, a resident of the State in which it is incorporated, and not a resident or inhabitant of any other State, although it may be engaged in business within such other State. Re Keasbey & Mattison, Co., 160 U. S. 221, 229; Macon Grocery Co. v. Atlantic Coast Line, supra, 509; and cases cited.

The Milling Company contends, however, that since it, might have brought the suit originally in a state court of concurrent jurisdiction within the Eastern District of Missouri, in which the. Railway Company is transacting business, and the Railway Company, under the decisions in General Investment Co. v. Lake Shore Railway, 260 U. S. 261, and Lee v. Chesapeake Railway, supra, might; then have removed it to the District Court, this necessarily involves the conclusion that the District Court also has “original jurisdiction” of the suit, since § 28 of the Judicial Code provides only for the removal of. suits of which the District Courts “are given original jurisdiction.” The fallacy of this argument lies in the failure to distinguish between the general jurisdiction of the District Courts, to which § 28 relates, and the local jurisdiction over the person of the defendant, to which § 51 relates. The same contention was made, in a converse form, in the General Investment Company Case, in which it was argued that a suit could nоt be removed from a state court to a district court in which, under § 51, it could not' have been brought оver, the defendant’s objection, ‍​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌‍since it was not a suit of which the District Court was given “original jurisdiction;” аnd it is completely answered by the holding in that case, at p. 275, that the term *367 “ original jurisdiction ” as used in § 28 refers only to the general jurisdiction conferred on the District Courts, and does not relate to thе venue provision in § 51; there being “ no purpose in extending to' removals the personal privilеge accorded to defendants by § 51, since removals are had only at the instance of defendants.” This was approved and followed in Lee v. Chesapeake Railway, supra, 657.

Whether the suit be originally brought in the District Court.or removеd from a state court, the general federal jurisdiction is the same; and the venue or local jurisdiction .of the District Court over the person of the defendant is dependent in the one cаse as in the other upon the., voluntary action of the non-resident defendant, being acquired in аn original suit by his waiver of objection to the venue, and in a removed- suit by his application for the removal to the District Court.

Since the question .does not require further argument, the motion of the ‍​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌‍Railway Company is granted, and the judgment of the District Court is -

Affirmed.

Notes

1

25 Stat. 433, 434, c. 866.