Thompson v. American Airlines, Inc.

A suit by the named consignee of a shipment of $18,000 worth of silver coins sued the common air carrier for non-delivery. The carrier as a third-*351party plaintiff (F.R.Civ.P. 14(a)) impleaded a bank and an individual (Swafford) since it then seemed clear that Swafford got the coins. As a third-party defendant he then became a fourth-party plaintiff in his attempted impleader of the United States, whose revenue agents had seized the coins while in Swafford’s custody allegedly as his property subject to the ubiquitous lien for federal taxes. The Court dismissed this impleader stating that the…