Cuebas v. Cuebas

Citations

• 223 U.S. 376
• 32 S. Ct. 277
• 56 L. Ed. 476
• 1912 U.S. LEXIS 2241

Syllabus

<p>Errors assignecL&s to finding of citizenship of a party dismissed from the suit at instance of appellant are mot here for review except as to the force and effect to be given to a decree pro confesso against other defendants before dismissal of the bill.</p> <p>Under the Foraker Act of April 12, 1900, 31 Stat. 85, c. 191, jurisdiction of the District Court of the United States was that of the District and, Circuit Courts of the United States; the additional jurisdiction conferred by the act of March 2, 1901, 31 Stat. 953, c. 812', did not extend the jurisdiction so as to embrace all controversies in which any litigant on either side is a citizen of the United States or a subject of a foreign country.</p> <p>The District Court of the United States for Porto Rico has not jurisdiction of a cause in which the sole plaintiff is a citizen of Porto Rico and any of the defendants are citizens of Porto Rico, notwithstanding one or more of the defendants may be citizens of the United States or of a foreign country.</p> <p>By the act of March 2, 1901, Congress did extend the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for Porto Rico by cutting down the necessary jurisdictional amount and dispensing with diversity •of state citizenship, by substituting United States citizenship therefor.</p> <p>The final decree following a pro confesso order is only'such a decree as . would be authorized by .the state of the pleadings when the order was entered.</p> <p>If a bill is fatally defective, showing that the court had’no jurisdiction, it is error to allow a pro confesso; the order should be vacated, and the defaulting defendant allowed to defend.</p> <p>.Where an amendment is allowed that changes the character of the bill and creates a jurisdiction not theretofore existing, the court should set aside a default and give time to defend.</p> <p>A decree nunc pro tunc presupposes a decree allowed or ordered, but not entered through inadvertence of the court, or a decree under advis