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· 1/5/1885

Hess v. Reynolds

Citations

  • 113 U.S. 73
  • 5 S. Ct. 377
  • 28 L. Ed. 927
  • 1885 U.S. LEXIS 1652

Syllabus

<p>A proceeding in a State court against an administrator, to obtain payment of a debt due by the decedent in his lifetime, is removable into a court of the United States, when the. creditor and the administrator are citizens of different States, notwithstanding the State statute may enact that such claims can only be established in a Probate Court of the State, or by appeal from that court to some other State court.</p> <p>The act of March 3, 1875, to determine the jurisdiction of the Circuit Courts and regulate the removal of causes from State courts, does not repeal or supersede all other statutes on those subjects, but only such as are in conflict with this latter statute. The third clause of section 639 of the Revised Statutes is not, therefore, abrogated or repealed.</p> <p>An application for removal under that clause is in time, if made before the trial or final hearing of the-cause in the State court.</p> <p>The report of commissioners to whom a claim has been referred by a Probate Court under the statutes of Michigan, is not such final hearing within the meaning of that section.</p> <p>The removal in all cases is into the Circuit Court of the District, which embraces territorially the State court in which the suit is pending at the time of the removal, without regard to the place where it originated.</p>

About this case

Hess v. Reynolds

Hess v. Reynolds, 113 U.S. 73 (1885), was a Supreme Court case determining whether a probate case from Michigan should be moved to federal court and, if so, which federal court should hear it. The court issued a writ of error on the judgment of the Eastern District of Michigan federal court for remanding a case back to the state court and determined that was indeed the appropriate federal court to hear the case.[1]

Contents

Background

(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hess_v._Reynolds&action=edit&section=1 "Edit section: Background")

The plaintiff, a citizen of Missouri , prosecuted his claim in the probate court of Ionia County in western Michigan, against the estate of Warren Sherwood, deceased, of which William Reynolds had been appointed administrator. The claim was resisted and was referred to commissioners appointed by the probate judge , who reported against its allowance. The issue was appealed to the circuit court of Ionia County for a trial by jury and was moved to the circuit court of Jackson County in eastern Michigan after several years delay that the plaintiff believed that due to prejudice and local influence, he would not be able to obtain justice in the state court.

It was argued that the case could not be moved to federal court since the original state court had already issued its decision. It was also argued that the cause should have been moved to the circuit court for the Western District of Michigan, where the case was originally filed in Ionia County instead of the Eastern District where the case was currently pending in Jackson County.

Decision

(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hess_v._Reynolds&action=edit&section=2 "Edit section: Decision")

The ruling determined that since one of the parties was from a different state, that there was federal jurisdiction to hear the dispute.

The high court also found that the language of the removal statute is that suits shall be removed into the circuit court of the district where such suits are pending. Undoubtedly this means where they are pending at the time of removal. This suit was not then pending in the Western District of Michigan but in the county of Jackson, which is in the Eastern District of that state. The court’s opinion was that the case was properly removed from the circuit court of Jackson county into the circuit court of the United States for the Eastern District of Michigan and that that court erred in remanding it.

The judgment was reversed, with instructions to proceed in the case in federal court in the Eastern District according to law.

References

(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hess_v._Reynolds&action=edit&section=3 "Edit section: References")

  1. ↑ Hess v. Reynolds, 113 U.S. 73 (1885).

External links

(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hess_v._Reynolds&action=edit&section=4 "Edit section: External links")

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hess_v._Reynolds&oldid=1332523430 "

Editorial context from Wikipedia (CC-BY-SA 4.0).

Judges: Millee, Gbay

Read full opinion on CourtListener

Sourced from CourtListener / Free Law Project (CC0).

This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.