U.S. Bank Nat’l Ass’n v. Collins-Fuller T

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting plaintiff-bank’s motion to voluntarily dismiss its action seeking to foreclose on home mortgage signed by defendants-owners, where said action had been filed under Dist. Ct.’s diversity jurisdiction under 28 USC section 1332(a)(1), and where, although plaintiffs and defendants-owners were citizens of different states, plaintiff’s shared citizenship with defendant-bank that held junior mortgage on said home precluded plaintiff from establishing complete diversity requirement set forth in section 1332(a)(1). While defendants-owners, who had filed third-party complaint in instant action against loan server, argued that case was properly in federal court, because defendant-bank that held junior mortgage was not necessary party under Rule 19(a), Dist. Ct. could properly find that instant lawsuit could not in good conscious and equity proceed without defendant-bank, since Dist Ct. could not afford plaintiff complete relief without presence of defendant-bank in instant lawsuit. Ct. rejected defendant’s argument that alleged violations of federal statutes in their third-party complaint could supply federal-question jurisdiction, where there was no federal question in plaintiff’s state-law foreclosure action.