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upr000153-051
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    Memorandum for Mr. Bennett: Referring to your memorandum of January 27, 1949, con­cerning the removability to the Federal District Court of an ac­tion in condemnation brought by the Water District at Las Vegas: Section 1441 of Title 2g, U. S. Judicial Code, provides that ”any civil action brought in a state court of which the district courts of the United States have original jurisdiction may be removed by the defendant” to the appropriate U. S. District Court. Original jurisdiction of the U. S. District Courts is fixed by Chapter S5, Title 2S, Section 1331, et seq., of the U. S. Judicial Code. Section 1332 provides that ”the district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions where the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of ©3,000.00, ex­clusive of interest and costs and is between : (1) citizens of different states.” Hence, a condemnation suit brought by the Water District at Las Vegas, created under the provisions of Chapter 167, Sta­tutes of Nevada, 1947, in a Nevada court against Union Pacific Railroad Company, a corporation of the State of Utah, would be removable to the U. S. District Court if, (1) the condemnation proceedings constitute a ”civil action” within the meaning of Sections 1332 and 1441 of the U. S. Judicial Code, and (2), if the Water District is a ”eitizen” of the State of Nevada within the meaning o f Section 1332, above mentioned. The second question appears to be answered by Section 350 of the Cyclopedia of Federal Procedure, 2nd Edition, Volume 2, and eases cited. The Section reads in part: ”Though a state is ndb regarded as a citizen within the purview of the removal acts, it is otherwise with municipal or political corporations. These are organized under the laws of the state for political purposes and come within the rule as to private corporations, and, be­ing like the latter created by the laws of the state, are for purposes of removal citizens of the state . . . The same is true of a school district, which is a political subdivision of the state and a body corporate or quasi- corporate, authorized by the laws creating it to contract and sue in its own name.”