American Fire & Casualty Co. v. Finn’s Empirical Analysis
341 U.S. 6 · 1951
Citation profile
1,137 federal appellate · 450 district · 38 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 3,597 later decisions (51 by the Supreme Court) — most recently February 2026 · most notably United Mine Workers of America v. Gibbs (1966), Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America (1994)
1,137 federal appellate · 450 district · 38 state decisions — followed in 12 states
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Appellate journey
reviewedAmerican Fire & Casualty Co. v. Finn (from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1332 (Class Action Fairness Act of 2005) · 28 U.S.C. § 1441 · 28 U.S.C. § 1445 · 28 U.S.C. § 1446
Relies on Mansfield Ry Co v. Swan · Hurn v. Oursler · Baltimore Co v. Phillips · Chase Securities Corp. v. Donaldson
Cited together with United Mine Workers of America v. Gibbs · Shamrock Oil & Gas Corp. v. Sheets · Owen Equipment & Erection Co. v. Kroger · Mansfield Ry Co v. Swan · Gully v. First Nat. Bank in Meridian
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 3,597 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Whenever a separate and independent claim or cause of action, which would be removable if sued upon alone, is joined with one or more otherwise non-removable claims or causes of action, the entire case may be removed and the district court may determine all issues therein, or, in its discretion, may remand all matters not otherwise within its original jurisdiction.”
250 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The jurisdiction of the federal courts is carefully guarded against expansion by judicial interpretation....”
28 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“(a) Except as otherwise expressly provided by Act of Congress, any civil action brought in a State court of which the district courts of the United States have original jurisdiction, may be removed by the * * * defendants, to the district court of the United States for the district and division embracing the place where such action is pending.”
15 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.