C. H. Nichols Lumber Co. v. Franson

Background

A worker sued a lumber company to recover for personal injuries he said he suffered while employed. The case was put in federal court only because the complaint said the company was a Washington corporation and the worker was a resident of Washington and a "citizen of Sweden." The company denied those allegations. The case went to a jury, the worker won, and judgment followed. There was no bill of exceptions in the record, but the trial judge issued a certificate saying when and how the question of federal power was raised, and a motion to dismiss for lack of that power was made between verdict and judgment.

Reasoning

The central question was whether the record showed the federal court had the power to hear the case. The Court said it may look at the trial judge’s certificate only to determine when and how the jurisdiction question was raised, but it may not rely on the certificate’s statements of testimony or other facts that are not in the record. The Court also held that the complaint’s plain statement that the worker was a "citizen of Sweden" was sufficient to show his nationality for the purpose of federal diversity, even though Sweden was in personal union with Norway at the time.

Real world impact

The decision affirms the judgment and makes clear that plain nationality allegations can support federal diversity power when their meaning is evident. It limits the use of a trial-court certificate to timing and procedural facts and advises that judges and lawyers should put jurisdictional disputes clearly on the record, for example by a bill of exceptions.