## Facts

- Multiple plaintiffs filed a bill in equity in the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts.
- The plaintiffs included citizens of Massachusetts.
- The defendants included citizens of Massachusetts and one defendant (Curtiss) alleged to be a citizen of Vermont, served in Vermont.
- The plaintiffs invoked diversity jurisdiction under § 11 of the Judiciary Act of 1789.

## Issues

1. Whether § 11 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 permits diversity jurisdiction in a multiparty case when at least one plaintiff and one defendant are citizens of the same state.
2. Whether, for parties joined on each side with a joint interest, the statute requires that each plaintiff be diverse from each defendant.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court’s dismissal for lack of jurisdiction.
- The Court held that, under § 11, if there are multiple joint plaintiffs and multiple joint defendants, each plaintiff must be able to sue each defendant in federal court on diversity grounds.
- Because both sides included Massachusetts citizens, statutory diversity jurisdiction could not be sustained.
- The Court expressly declined to decide the rule for cases involving multiple parties representing several distinct (non-joint) interests.

## Legal Principles

- Under § 11 of the Judiciary Act of 1789, statutory diversity jurisdiction in a multiparty suit with joint interests requires complete diversity between all plaintiffs and all defendants.
- When an interest is joint, every person sharing that interest must be competent to sue (or liable to be sued) in federal court for diversity jurisdiction to attach.
- The decision rests on statutory interpretation and does not resolve the constitutional limits of Article III diversity jurisdiction for other party configurations.

## Conclusion

The Court interpreted the Judiciary Act of 1789 to require complete diversity in cases with multiple parties joined on each side with a joint interest, and it affirmed dismissal where any plaintiff shared state citizenship with any defendant.


Strawbridge v. Curtiss, 7 U.S. (3 Cranch) 267 (1806)