Dodd v. Fawcett Publications, Inc.

329 F.2d 82 (10th Cir. 1964)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

In March 1958, Fawcett (D) an article entitled 'The Pill That Can Kill Sports.' It made reference to the 1956 University of Oklahoma varsity football team. Thirteen members of the Oklahoma team, each being a citizen of that state, filed separate actions for damages in the Oklahoma state court naming Fawcett (D), a foreign corporation, and Mid-Continent (D) as co-defendants. Mid-Continent (D) is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business located in Oklahoma City and is a distributor of True and other magazines. Ds made an attempt to remove the actions to federal court but it failed because Mid-Continent's (D) principal place of business was at Oklahoma City. The orders of remand were entered and the actions were severally returned to the jurisdiction of the state court. The Morris case proceeded to trial and the trial judge instructed the jury to return a verdict against Fawcett (D) leaving only the amount of damages to be determined. The court directed a verdict in favor of Mid-Continent (D). The jury returned a verdict of $75,000. Both parties appealed. The Oklahoma high court affirmed the judgment in all respects, and its judgment is now final. P's counsel were also Morris' counsel. It was determined that P's and Morris' cases were virtually identical. Ds once again removed the case to federal court but this time Ds claimed that P fraudulently joined Mid-Continent (D) to the case to destroy complete diversity. D claimed that P had no cause of action against Mid-Continent (D). P moved to remand the case. The district court denied the motion and P appealed.