Goodwin v. Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Co.
Goodwin v. Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion of the Court by
Affirming;,
Appellant brought this action in the court below against the appellees, Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company, and William Eades, its employe, to recover damages for injuries alleged to have been sustained by him in the service of the railway company, through the neg
On November 7, 1911, and while the case was still on the docket of the Federal Court, appellant appeared therein and filed in writing a motion to dismiss the case without prejudice to any suit in that or any other court. On Novebmer 28, 1911, the Federal Court sustained that motion by an order in these words:
“This day came the plaintiff by A. D. Cole, his attorney, and on his motion, the court being advised, it is now ordered that this cause be and the same is dismissed without prejudice to any suit in this or any other court.”
Ascertaining that it was the purpose of appellant to obtain a trial of the case in the Lewis Circuit Court, notwithstanding its dismissal by him in the Federal Court, appellees appeared in the Lewis Circuit Court on January 16, 1912, and filed an answer in the nature of a plea in abatement, setting up the proceedings in the Federal Court, including the dismissal of the case by the appellant, and filed with, the answer as an exhibit, a complete transcript of the record of the Federal Court in the action. Appellant demurred to the plea in abatement, which the Lewis Circuit Court overruled. He then refused to plead further and the court dismissed his petition ; and from the judgment manifesting these rulings he has appealed.
Although appellant did not make a motion in the Federal Court to remand the case to the State Court, he did appear in the Federal Court, after that court had taken jurisdiction of the ease and ordered it to be
“It seems impossible that two courts can at the same time possess the power to make a final determination of the same controversy between the same parties. If either has authority to act, its action must necessarily be exclusive.” 1st. Freeman on Judgments; section 118.
As the jurisdiction to determine whether the case should have been remanded to the State Court, vested alone in the Federal Court, and the action was pending in that court, at least for the determination of that question, if for no other purpose, and it was dismissed at the instance of appellant, before that question could be determined, the order of dismissal in that court could not operate as a revival of the same action in the Lewis Circuit Court.
In Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co. v. McCabe, 213 U. S., 207, the Supreme Court in reviewing a case from this State, on this subject held: That the United States Circuit Court has jurisdiction to determine for itself the removability of a cause and may take jurisdiction thereof and protect such jurisdiction, even though the State Court refuse to make the removal order; and that final judgment, rendered by and under such conditions by the Federal Court, cannot be reviewed by the State Court, but such judgment is binding on the State Court until reversed by the Supreme Court.
This doctrine seems to have been also applied in Clinger’s Admr. v. Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co., 138 Ky., 615, in the opinion of which it is said:
‘ ‘ This is not a case where a party dismisses an action that has been removed to the Federal Court and then brings a new action in the State Court. It is a case where it is attempted to proceed in the State Court in the identical action which has been dismissed in the Federal Court. When a party dismisses an action without prejudice, it necessarily means that he does so without prejudice to future actions. * * * Not without prejudice to the same action. When, therefore, it was made to appear to the State Court that the Federal Court had held that it had jurisdiction, and that appellant had thereupon dismissed the action in the Federal Court, the State Court properly held that this was a bar to any further proceedings in the State Court in the same case. Were the rule otherwise, it would be an easy matter to defeat the jurisdiction of the Federal Court. In every case removed to the Federal Court, and of which that court had assumed jurisdiction, the party contesting the removal could then dismiss without prejudice and proceed in the State Court as if no removal had ever taken place. In this way the Federal Courts would be deprived of the right conferred upon them by Con*810 gress to determine whether or not a case is removable.”
The judgment of the circuit court being in accord with the conclusions we have expressed it is hereby affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.