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21 F.R.D. 303

Kestner v. Reading Co.

U.S. District Court

Decided November 25, 1957

U.S. District Court · decided 1957-11-25

Cited by 12 later decisions — most recently August 1968

1 federal appellate · 2 district ·

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““ * * * In every case which has been brought to my attention in which the point has been presented (see Cooke v. Kilgore Mfg. Co., D.C., 15 F.R.D. 465 , and cases there cited), it has been held that the rule refers not to parties whose interest in the result of the litigation may be adverse but to parties who are on opposite sides of an issue raised by the pleadings or otherwise presented by the record. It would seem that a broader construction of the rule would present many difficulties and complications which are avoided by the simple expedient of having the matter governed by the record.””

quoted by 3 later decisions, including Weitort v. AH Bull & Company, Biddle v. Hutchinson

Applies 45 U.S.C. § 51 (Federal Employers' Liability Act)

Relies on Cooke v. Kilgore Mfg. Co.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1957-11-25

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

KIRKPATRICK, Chief Judge.

¶1The plaintiff, a railroad employee, brought suit against his employer, the Reading Company, under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, 45 U.S.C.A. § 51 et seq. The cause of action stated was that “by reason of the negligence of the defendant the area in and about the tracks had been dug out unbeknown to the plaintiff”, as a result of which the plaintiff, in the performance of his duties, stepped into a hole and was injured.

¶2The Reading Company brought in Chester Municipal Authority as a third party defendant, alleging merely that the plaintiff’s injuries, if any, were caused by the negligence of the third party defendant. The third party defendant has now served interrogatories upon the plaintiff, to which the plaintiff objects on the ground that the third party defendant is not an “adverse party” within the meaning of Rule 33, Fed.Rules Civ. Proc. 28 U.S.C.

¶3The objection must be sustained. In every case which has been brought to my attention in which the point has been presented (see Cooke v. Kilgore Mfg. Co., D.C., 15 F.R.D. 465, and cases there cited), it has been held that the rule refers not to parties whose *304interest in the result of the litigation may be adverse but to parties who are on opposite sides of an issue raised by the pleadings or otherwise presented by the record. It would seem that a broader construction of the rule would present many difficulties and complications which are avoided by the simple expedient of having the matter governed by the record.

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