Diaz Navarro v. Post
Diaz Navarro v. Post
Opinion of the Court
delivered tlie folio-wing opinion:
The cause was originally brought in an insular court and recently removed to this court. After the translation of the pleadings, the complainants immediately moved to remand the cause for lack of jurisdiction in this court to entertain the same. This issue was argued by 0. Coll y Cuchi for the complainants, and Henry M. Hoyt, Attorney General of the island, for the respondents.
It is a suit which, in this court, must of necessity go to the equity docket, as it is an application for an injunction. The suit is brought, as appears from the translation of' the complaint, by Herminio Diaz Uavarro and Cayétano Coll y Cuchi, both citizens and residents of Porto Eico, against Eegis H. Post as governor, Samuel D. Gromer as treasurer, and Geo. C. Ward
The bill of complaint alleges that after that act went into force in Porto Eico, the executive council, claiming the right solely and of itself under the terms of the organic act, and without assistance from the house of delegates to do so, held a session, and fixed the salaries of all officials of Porto Eico not appointed by the President, including deputies, assistants, and other help, for the ensuing fiscal year'; and that, in addition, the bill alleges, that the governor is now proceeding in and of himself to set sums of money aside, estimated by himself, and himself alone, just as he thinks advisable, for all other general
Allegation 10 of the complaint sets out that “by the inversion (whatever that means) of the revenues of the taxpayers of the people of Porto Eico in a manner so clearly illegal, the said taxpayers, and therefore your petitioners, are caused incalculable and irremediable damage for which they have no ordinary remedy at law,” etc. And then follows the prayer for an injunction to prevent the respondents from ordering, approving, issuing, or making any payment whatsoever, whether of salaries, expenses, or of any other nature, chargeable to the treasury of Porto Eico, etc.
The ground urged the strongest during the oral argument this morning, against the jurisdiction of this court and in favor of the motion to remand, was that of necessity there is no money value to the controversy, and that it involves nothing, “wherein the matter in dispute exceeds, exclusive of interest or costs, the sum or value of $1,000,” which is the minimum sum to confer jurisdiction on this court, under § 3 of the act of Congress of March 2, 1901 [31 Stat. at L. 953, chap. 812]. It appears to be conceded that the officials it is sought to restrain are acting, or pretending to act, under a law of Congress, and it affirmatively appears from the record that the complainants are Porto Eicans, and all of the respondents are citizens of the United States.
In the hasty examination we have made of the subject, we are not clear but that in Porto Eico, especially under the act
We have been cited to a number of cases, such as El Paso Water Co. v. El Paso, 152 U. S. 157, 38 L. ed. 396, 14 Sup. Ct. Rep. 494; and Colvin v. Jacksonville, 158 U. S. 456, 39 L. ed. 1053, 15 Sup. Ct. Rep. 866, which it is claimed show that it is the personal interest of complainants in a case like this that fixes the amount of the jurisdiction. Our hasty examination of those cases forces us to disagree with the effort to apply them here. We find that, in a suit by a stockholder for the appointment of a receiver of a corporation, the amount in controversy is the value of the entire corporate assets. Towle v. American Bldg. Loan & Invest. Soc. 60 Fed. 131. And that on a bill in equity to abate a public nuisance, such as a bridge over a navigable river, the matter in controversy is the removal of the obstruction, and the value of the object to be removed is the amount involved, and not the special damage to himself, which the complainant may show. Mississippi & M. R. Co. v.
We therefore hold that the motion to remand should he denied, and it is so ordered.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- HERMINIO DIAZ NAVARRO v. REGIS H. POST, GOVERNOR OF PORTO RICO
- Status
- Published