Bernard W. Piel, D/B/A Elliot Tool and Manufacturing Company v. Harvard Interiors Manufacturing Company, a Division of Harvard Industries, Inc.

Plaintiff filed suit in the Circuit Court of St. Louis (Mo.) seeking recovery in money damages arising out of delivery of goods and materials to the defendant. The defendant, alleging that the parties had diversity, of citizenship and that the amount in controversy complied with the jurisdictional requirements, removed the suit to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Having failed to file any responsive pleading, the defendant, on February 6, 1973, suggested that it was in bankruptcy and that the suit should be removed from the trial docket. On July 2, 1973,…