William R. Day

“ The People's Gas, Light, & Coke Company, on the 21st of December, 1900, brought a suit in the circuit court of the United States for the northern district of Illinois, seeking to enjoin enforcement of the ordinance, upon the ground that it impaired the obligation of its charter contract, denied equal protection of the laws, and amounted to a confiscation of its property; and upon the further ground that no power had been conferred upon the city of Chicago by the legislature of Illinois to thus regulate the price of gas. ”

“ As to the refusal of the company to institute a new suit, there is nothing in the record to show any concert of action between complainant and the company. At that time his counsel in New York was not concerned in the litigation in Chicago or in the appeal to this court. As the case brought by the gas company then stood, it had been dismissed for want of jurisdiction, and an appeal taken from that decree of dismissal. ”

“ When a citizen of one state has a cause of action against a citizen of another state which he may prosecute lawfully in a Federal court, and when the suit is free from fraud or collusion, his motive in preferring a Federal tribunal is immaterial. Blair v. Chicago, 201 U.S. 400, 408, 50 L. ed. 801, 805, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 427, and previous cases in this court therein cited.
Upon the whole record we agree with the circuit court that the testimony does not disclose that the jurisdiction of the Federal court was collusively and fraudulently invoked, and the judgment below will be affirmed. ”