American Motorists Insurance v. Trane Co.

HARLINGTON WOOD, Jr., Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from the district court’s order realigning the parties to a diversity action for declaratory judgment and dismissing the action for want of subject matter jurisdiction. The issue is whether a finding that one of the defendant insurers shared an interest with the plaintiff insurance company in avoiding liability to the defendant insured necessitates realignment. The district judge held that it does and realigned the parties, thereby depriving the court of diversity jurisdiction. We reverse.

I

Defendant-appellant Trane Company (“Trane”) is a…