Iowa Central Railway Co. v. Bacon

Citations

• 236 U.S. 305
• 35 S. Ct. 357
• 59 L. Ed. 591
• 1915 U.S. LEXIS 1762

Syllabus

<p>If the suit be one of which the Circuit Court can rightfully take jurisdiction, the state court loses jurisdiction on the filing of the petition and bond, and subsequent proceedings in that court are void; but if on the face of the record, including the petition for removal, it does not appear that the suit is removable, the state court is not bound to surrender its jurisdiction and may proceed as if no application for removal had been made. Traction Co. v. Mining Co., 196 U. S. 239.</p> <p>Although the petition may allege that plaintiff sustained damages in excess of two thousand dollars, if the prayer for recovery is for less than that sum, the jurisdictional amount is not involved, and the filing of a petition and bond does not effect a removal of the case.</p> <p>Although the Federal court may have made'orders continuing a case in which a petition and bond had been filed, and even dismissed it for want of prosecution, if the question of its authority had never been presented to or decided by it, the state court is not bound to respect such orders as conclusive of the question of jurisdiction; and so held in a case which on the face of the record was not removable as the amount claimed was less than $2,000, although the damages were stated in the petition as having exceeded that sum. Chesapeake & Ohio By. v. McCabe, 213 U. S. 207, distinguished.</p>