Kline v. Burke Construction Company

Burke Construction Company (Burke) (plaintiff), a Missouri corporation, sued Kline and other Arkansas officials (defendants) in Arkansas federal court under diversity jurisdiction, alleging breach of a street-paving contract; about a month later, the defendants sued Burke and its bond sureties in Arkansas state court over the same contract, alleging abandonment, raising nearly identical in personam damages issues. Burke sought a federal injunction against the parallel state action; the district court denied it, but the court of appeals reversed, holding Burke had a constitutional right under Article III to have its case tried in federal court, prompting the Supreme Court's grant of certiorari.