Donald L. Snell v. Cleveland, Inc., and Patricia Faber John Does Jane Does

This case presents the question of whether a district court may, sua sponte, vacate a final judgment in a prior case not pending before the court because diversity jurisdiction, though it existed, was inadequately pled. We conclude that it cannot, and reverse.

I

Donald Snell filed this diversity tort action, captioned CV-00-00009 (hereinafter referred to as “the closed tort action”), in the United States District Court for the District of Montana. He named four parties as defendants: Cleveland, Inc.; Nicholas Faber, in his capacity as the sole shareholder of Cleveland, Inc.; and Nicholas and Patricia Faber, as the record landowners of the bar and adjoining property on which the accident underlying the case occurred. According to the allegations in the complaint, Snell — then nineteen years old' — spent the evening drinking and harassing other customers at defendant Cleveland, Inc.’s tavern in Blaine County, Montana. Snell’s debauch came to an abrupt end when he left the bar and fell off a forty-foot drop near the bar’s parking lot, suffering significant physical injuries. Snell sought damages in tort from the defendants.

The complaint inadequately alleged the facts…