Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Mottley
United States Supreme Court
211 U.S. 149 (1908)
After the Mottleys (plaintiffs) were injured in an 1871 railway accident, Louisville & Nashville Railroad (defendant) settled by granting them a lifetime free-transportation pass, but a 1906 congressional act banning such free passes led the railroad to refuse renewal in 1907; the Mottleys sued in federal court for specific performance, alleging the act did not apply to their pass or, if it did, that this would unconstitutionally deprive them of property under the Fifth Amendment. The trial court overruled the railroad's demurrer and entered judgment for the Mottleys, and the railroad appealed.
Whether, for a suit to arise under the Constitution and laws of the United States, giving a federal court jurisdiction to hear the case, a plaintiff must allege a cause of action based upon those laws or that Constitution.