Denicke

This appeal is from a judgment of the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of California 1 dismissing for want of jurisdiction an action by appellant, Ernest H. Denicke, against appellees, R'. D. Brigham, Samuel Kahn, William B. Reis, Leon Sloss, Jr., Herbert Fleishhacker, Mortimer Fleishhacker, Mortimer Fleishhacker, Jr., Walter E. Buck, R. Stanley Dollar, Walter A. Haas, William F. Humphrey, J. C. McKinstry, Alfred B. Swinerton, Joseph O. Tobin and Joseph Haber, Jr., for damages in the sum of $86,562, 2 with interest and costs.

The District Court’s jurisdiction was invoked on the ground that the matter in controversy exceeded, exclusive of interest and costs, the sum or value of $3,000 and arose under the Constitution and laws of the United States. 3 No other ground of jurisdiction was asserted. That the matter in controversy exceeded, exclusive of interest and costs, the sum or value of $3,000 is conceded. The question is whether it arose under the Constitution or laws of the United States.

The amended complaint, hereafter called the complaint, was in three counts. Each count stated, in substance that at all times between May 15, 1924, and June 30,…