Joseph

This is an action based on diversity of citizenship. 28 U.S.C. § 1332 . Plaintiff is a citizen and resident of Illinois. Defendants were all corporate or individual citizens and residents of the state of Washington. The matter in controversy exceeds, exclusive of interest and costs, the sum of $3,000.

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment of dismissal of plaintiff’s cause of action pursuant to the trial court’s granting of a motion to dismiss under Fed.R.Civ.P. 41 (b). Plaintiff had sought to impose a trust upon one-half of the stock Kinzua Lumber Company, a corporation, claiming the existence of a contract, a joint venture, an agency relationship, or a fiduciary relationship with one Harry J. O’Donnell. The trial court, by pre-trial order, required a separate trial wittl respect to the liability of the defendant O’Donnell, holding that if there were no liability on the part of defendant ,, ... ,, O Donnell, there would be none on the ,, . ’ , , .,,, . . . other defendants. At the conclusion of ,. ... the trial on this limited issue, the trial . , court dismissed plaintiff s cause of ac-L. „ ,. „ tion. 1 Findings of Fact, Conclusions of . ° . Law, and a judgment were signed and…