Prudential Oil Corporation v. Phillips Petroleum Company

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• noting that “[t]he scrutiny normally applied to transfers or assignments of claims which have the effect of creating diversity must be doubled in the case of assignments between related or affiliated [entities].”
• considering continued involvement of parent company personnel in litigation, parent’s contemplation of instituting lawsuit prior to assignment, and advantages of gaining federal forum
• rejecting explanation that assignment made to facilitate a joint venture when “no showing that a joint venture had ever existed”
• finding a presumption of collusion appropriate where a transferor “realistically retains a substantial pecuniary interest in the outcome of the litigation”
• assignee must “provide a basis for the inference that a legitimate business reason, unconnected with [the] acquisition of diversity jurisdiction, existed for the assignment”
• “Section 1359 should therefore be construed broadly to bar any improper attempt to create federal diversity jurisdiction.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).