Actino Laboratories, Inc. v. Lamb

278 N.W. 234, 224 Iowa 573
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedMarch 8, 1938
DocketNo. 44053.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 278 N.W. 234 (Actino Laboratories, Inc. v. Lamb) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Actino Laboratories, Inc. v. Lamb, 278 N.W. 234, 224 Iowa 573 (iowa 1938).

Opinion

KiNTZiNGER, J.

It is conceded by the record that plaintiff is a foreign stock corporation, organized under the laws of the State of Illinois, with its principal place of business in Chicago.

It is also conceded that the plaintiff corporation had not secured a permit authorizing it to do business in the State of Iowa as required by section 8427 of the Code of 1935, which provides that:

“No foreign stock corporation doing business in this state shall maintain any action in this state upon any contract made by it in this state unless prior to the making of such contract it shall have procured such permit. ’ ’

It is also conceded by the record that one Dr. Carl Loeb was the president and sales manager of plaintiff corporation. It is also shown by the record that plaintiff, at the time the transaction took place, was engaged in the sale of certain electrical machines used in the treatment of physical ailments. It is also shown by the record that in March, 1935, Dr. Loeb, the president of the plaintiff corporation, held classes in a clinic in Des Moines for the purpose of demonstrating said machines in Iowa. The demonstrations of the plaintiff’s electrical appliances conducted by Dr. Loeb, in the city of Des Moines during the month of March, and the lectures delivered by him in connection therewith, were carried on for the purpose of introducing and selling the company’s electrical appliances in the state of Iowa; and this work, together with the sales of such electrical appliances by Dr. Loeb in the state of Iowa, was all a part of the business conducted by said company in the state of Iowa through its president.

As a result of such demonstrations and lectures delivered by Dr. Loeb in the Des Moines clinic, he, on March 30, 1935, sold to the defendant at Des Moines, Iowa, under a conditional sales contract, a machine similar to one being displayed in Des Moines during the month of March, 1935, and by which demonstrations on patients were made at the clinic. The contract entered into was in the form of an order for a machine, as follows:

Exhibit A.

“$500.50 March 30, 1935.

“Actino Laboratories, 190 N. State St., Chicago, Ill.

*575 “Please ship to the undersigned articles as listed on opposite side, for which the undersigned promises to pay you, or order the sum of Five Hundred & 50/100 Dollars, in lawful money of the United States, being the price of said goods, F. O. B. cars Chicago, Ill., upon the following terms and conditions: $175.00 cash with this order, $125.00 — $50.00 allowance on Cold Quartz. $325.00 in 16 monthly installments of $20.30 each, due and payable on the twentieth day of each succeeding month after receipt of goods.

“It is agreed that title to said goods shall not pass to undersigned until the price thereof or any judgment for all or part of the same is paid in full, and that until such payment said goods shall remain your property. If there be default at any time in any payment the full amount unpaid hereon shall become due and payable forthwith. In default of any payment said property may be repossessed and removed by you, and for that purpose either you or any person by your order may take possession of and remove said goods without legal process, and in such case all payments made shall be retained by you as and for the rent thereof.

“The loss, injury or destruction of said property, or any notes given and any renewals or extensions thereof, shall not operate in any manner to release undersigned from payment as provided herein. Until fully paid for, said goods shall not be removed, mortgaged or otherwise encumbered, nor possession thereof transferred without your written consent first obtained.

“ It is agreed that this order shall not be subject to countermand or rescission by the undersigned; that it covers all agreements between the parties hereto relative to this transaction, and that you shall not be bound by any representations or promises made by an agent relative to this transaction which is not embodied herein.

“Transportation charges from Chicago destination are to be paid by the undersigned.

Sign Here Dr. R. R. Lamb. Address: Equitable Bldg.

Town Des Moines. County .

State Iowa. Witness Dr. Carl Loeb.

Back of Exhibit A.

“ACTINO LABORATORIES.

‘ ‘ 190 North State Street, Chicago, Illinois.

‘ ‘ Ship to Dr. R. R. Lamb

*576 Address: Equitable Bldg.

Town Des Moines. State Iowa.

Catalog or

Special List No. Quantity Articles Price

1 Ultra Oscillbtherm

(Loeb) Power Type.. .$455.00

Finance charges . 45.50

$500.50

“Finance charges are deductible for cash within sixteen days from date of sale. Carl Loeb. ’ ’

At the time this order was executed, the defendant paid Dr. Loeb, the president of the plaintiff corporation, in Des Moines, Iowa, the sum of $125 in cash, delivered a certain lamp to said Dr. Loeb in Des Moines, receiving a credit of $50 therefor, and executed and delivered to said Dr. Loeb, the president of the plaintiff corporation, his sixteen promissory notes in the sum of $20.30 each in payment of the balance due on the contract. Pursuant to this order a machine was delivered to defendant in Des Moines by the president of the corporation shortly after the delivery of these notes.

There was evidence in this case tending to show that the plaintiff corporation, through its president, Dr. Loeb, also sold at least three other appliances or machines in the state of Iowa at or about the same time.

The order for the sale of the machine in question expressly provides that it was not subject to countermand or rescission. The order contained no limitation that it was subject to acceptance or approval by the company in Chicago, nor was any testimony offered tending to show any such understanding. On the contrary, all of the evidence points to but one conclusion, and that is that the contract of sale was executed and accepted by the president of the plaintiff company and the machine delivered in the city of Des Moines, Iowa, by Dr. Loeb. The evidence shows that plaintiff was doing business in the state of Iowa, and the facts in this ease bring it squarely within the prohibition of our statute.

The lower court found in its decree that:

“The plaintiff is a foreign stock corporation doing business in the State of Iowa, and that this action is brought on a eon- *577 tract made by said corporation in the State of Iowa, and that said corporation had not, prior to the making of the contract, procured a permit to do business within the State of Iowa, as provided by law, and had not secured said permit at the time of the submission of said cause. The court therefore finds that the plaintiff cannot maintain said action.”

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Bluebook (online)
278 N.W. 234, 224 Iowa 573, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/actino-laboratories-inc-v-lamb-iowa-1938.