Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co. v. Whiteaker

Citations

• 239 U.S. 421
• 36 S. Ct. 152
• 60 L. Ed. 360
• 1915 U.S. LEXIS 1432

Syllabus

<p>. In the absence of bad faith, the motive of the plaintiff in making defendants parties who are jointly liable does not affect the right to remove the case.</p> <p>Whether the complaint states a 'cause of action against the resident defendant joined with a non-resident defendant, is a matter of state law.</p> <p>Where, as in this case, the injured plaintiff had under the law of the State a right of action against a non-resident railroad company and also against one of its employés who is a resident, he has the right to join them both as defendants; and the non-resident cannot, in the absence of showing fraud on the part of the plaintiff, remove the case as to it into the Federal co\\irt.</p> <p>Merely to traverse the plaintiff’s allegations upon which the liability of resident defendant rests or to apply the' epithet fraudulent to the joinder is not sufficient — the showing of fraud must compel the conclusion that the joinder'was so absolutely without reasonable basis as to be made in bad faith.</p>