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(詳細はUnited States Supreme Court decision which clarified the meaning and application of Rule 19 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In a unanimous decision, the Court reversed the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and held that an automobile owner's interest in a suit against his insurer did not make him an "indispensable party" to that suit under Rule 19. The Court also made clear that Supreme Court precedent predating the enactment of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure did not create any substantive right in non-parties to be joined in case, as the Court of Appeals had apparently thought. ==Facts of the Case== The case involved a somewhat complex set of facts arising from an automobile accident. Donald Cionci was driving a vehicle when he collided with a truck driven by Thomas Smith (Edward Dutcher, the automobile's owner, was not present when the accident occurred). John Harris and John Lynch were passengers in the automobile at the time of the crash. As a result of the collision, Cionci and Smith were killed, as was John Lynch. Harris, however, survived. Provident Tradesmens Bank, the administrator of Lynch's estate, sued the estate of Cionci (the car's driver) in federal district court pursuant to diversity jurisdiction. Cionci's estate, in turn, notified Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company, Dutcher's insurance company, alleging that Lumbermen's had a duty to defend pursuant to Dutcher's insurance policy. However, Lumbermens declined to defend Cionci's estate in the suit by Provident, asserting that Cionci had not had permission to drive Dutcher's vehicle and hence was not covered by the policy. The suit by Provident against the estate of Cionci was subsequently settled for $50,000 but Cionci, being penniless, could not pay. Apparently eyeing Lumbermen's deep pockets and armed with a liquidated $50,000 claim from its suit against Cionci's estate, Provident brought suit in federal district court seeking a declaration that Cionci had permission from Dutcher to use the automobile. The only named defendants in the declaratory action were Lumbermens and the estate of Cionci. David Dutcher, the owner of the vehicle and the beneficiary of the Lumbermens insurance policy, was not named as a defendant. The district court concluded that as a matter of applicable Pennsylvania law, the driver of an automobile is presumed to have the permission of the owner. Although the defendants sought to introduce testimony by Dutcher (the car's owner) concerning the restrictions he had imposed on Cionci's use of the automobile, the court held that under Pennsylvania's "Dead Man Rule" Dutcher was incompetent to testify, because his interests were adverse to that of Lynch's estate. Since there was no other evidence controverting the presumption of permission by Dutcher, the district court directed a verdict in favor of the Provident Tradesmens Bank. Lumbermens appealed, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that because Dutcher was an indispensable party and was not joined in the initial action, the suit must be dismissed. It held (1) that a person's whose rights may be affected by a judgment has a "substantive" right to be joined in the action, (2) that a trial court may not proceed in that person's absence, and (3) that since Dutcher could not be joined without destroying the court's diversity jurisdiction, the suit had to be dismissed. The Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari to address the scope of the newly amended Rule 19 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Provident Tradesmens Bank & Trust Co. v. Patterson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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