## Facts

- A railroad accident in Wisconsin killed Whitton’s wife, allegedly due to the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company’s negligence.
- The decedent’s personal representative (Whitton, as administrator) sued under a Wisconsin wrongful-death statute creating a damages action when death results from a wrongful act that would have supported a personal-injury claim if death had not occurred.
- The statute required the suit to be brought by the personal representative, capped damages at $5,000, and included a proviso that the action be brought for a death caused in Wisconsin “in some court” established by Wisconsin’s constitution and laws.
- While the case was pending in Wisconsin state court, Congress enacted the Act of Mar. 2, 1867, permitting removal of certain diversity cases on an affidavit of “prejudice or local influence.”
- Whitton, a citizen of Illinois at the time, petitioned to remove the case to federal circuit court in Wisconsin under the 1867 Act; the state court ordered removal.
- The federal circuit court tried the case, and a jury awarded Whitton $5,000; judgment was entered.
- The Railway Company, incorporated under Illinois law and also incorporated in Wisconsin, sought Supreme Court review, arguing lack of federal jurisdiction and that the Wisconsin statute’s forum proviso barred removal and federal adjudication.

## Issues

1. How a corporation incorporated in multiple states is treated for diversity jurisdiction when sued in federal court sitting in one incorporating state.
2. Whether a state wrongful-death statute’s requirement that suit be brought in state courts can prevent removal to, or adjudication in, federal court when diversity and federal removal requirements are met.
3. Whether the Act of Mar. 2, 1867 is constitutional and permits removal based on “prejudice or local influence” by a nonresident plaintiff.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court affirmed the federal circuit court’s judgment for Whitton.
- For diversity purposes, the Railway Company was treated as a citizen of Wisconsin when sued in federal court in Wisconsin, notwithstanding incorporation elsewhere; diversity existed between an Illinois plaintiff and a Wisconsin corporate defendant.
- The Wisconsin statute’s forum proviso could not limit federal jurisdiction or prevent removal where constitutional and statutory prerequisites for federal jurisdiction were satisfied.
- The Act of Mar. 2, 1867 was upheld as constitutional and was construed to allow removal by either party, including a nonresident plaintiff, upon the statutory showing.

## Legal Principles

- In diversity cases, a corporation is treated as a citizen of the state that created it; when sued in federal court sitting in that state, it is regarded as a citizen of that state regardless of any additional incorporations elsewhere.
- When state law establishes substantive rights (including statutory causes of action), federal courts may enforce those rights in cases between proper parties; state law cannot restrict federal jurisdiction through forum-limiting provisions.
- A state cannot require that suits on state-created rights be maintained exclusively in state courts if federal jurisdiction otherwise exists under the Constitution and federal statutes.
- Congress may authorize removal of qualifying diversity cases from state to federal court, including removal based on “prejudice or local influence,” and such removal may be invoked by a nonresident plaintiff as well as a defendant when the statute so provides.

## Conclusion

The Court held that federal diversity jurisdiction and congressionally authorized removal cannot be defeated by a state wrongful-death statute’s attempt to confine litigation to state courts, and it treated the railroad as a citizen of Wisconsin for purposes of the suit in federal court sitting in Wisconsin while sustaining removal under the 1867 prejudice-or-local-influence statute.


Railway Co. v. Whitton's Adm'r, 80 U.S. 270 (1871)