Arney v. Central Electric & Gas Co.

66 F. Supp. 401, 1946 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2539
District Court, D. Minnesota·Decided July 5, 1946·No. No. 1464·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

NORDBYE, District Judge.

It is urged that there is no jurisdiction because the cause of action arose in the State of South Dakota; that the defendant is a foreign corporation doing business in the State of Minnesota and service upon it was obtained by serving its agent appointed in compliance with the foreign corporation law of this State. Minn.St.1941, § 303.01 et seq. It is contended that jurisdiction, therefore, was not obtained when the cause of action arose in a State other than the State of Minnesota. Defendant also contends that the dismissal should be granted because its agent resides in the Second Division of the District and that it does not do any business in the Fourth Division, the venue of this action.

The jurisdiction of this Court is not invoked on diversity of citizenship, but on Section 16(b) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C.A. § 216(b). Section 112, Title 28 U.S.C.A., provides: “* * * no civil suit shall be brought in any district court against any person by any original process or proceeding in any other district than that whereof he is an inhabitant; but where the jurisdiction is founded only on the fact that the action is between citizens of different States, suit shall be brought only in the district of the residence of either the plaintiff or the defendant. •1; *

Defendant is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in the State of South Dakota. It is doing business in this State and has appointed an agent upon whom service of process may be made in accordance with the requirements of the Minnesota statutes. It is now definitely settled (Neirbo Co. v. Bethlehem Corp., 308 U.S. 165, 60 S.Ct. 153, 84 L.Ed. 167, 128 A.L.R. 1437) that where a foreign corporation, as a condition of doing business within the State, appoints an agent upon whom service of process may be made, it has thereby given effective consent to be sued not only in the State Courts of that State, but in the Federal Courts therein as well. In other words, the requirement of Section 112, Title 28 U.S.C.A,, that where jurisdiction is founded on grounds other than diversity, suit must be brought against the defendant in the district whereof he is an inhabitant, is satisfied by the designation by a foreign corporation of an- agent for service of process in conformity with the laws of the State in which the suit is instituted. The consent to be sued in the State is construed to be a waiver of the requirement of this venue statute. The Supreme Court did not, however, repudiate the rule that a corporation is a citizen and resident of the State of its incorporation, but rested its decision on the fact that venue is a privilege; that it can be surrendered and waived; and that by voluntarily designating an agent for the service of process in a State, it has consented to be sued in that State. It seems clear, therefore, that the defendant herein by its voluntary act has consented to be sued in the Federal Courts of this State and the jurisdiction of this Court has been properly invoked.

But defendant urges that the cause of action arose in a State other than Minnesota and service of process in any proceeding on its agent herein must relate to business and transactions of the corporation within the State of Minnesota. It points out that this is an action for the recovery of overtime compensation, liquidated damages and attorneys’ fees growing out of services performed by plaintiff for the defendant wholly outside the State of Minnesota. It relies on the well-known cases of Simon v. Southern Railway Co., 236 U.S. 115, 35 S.Ct. 255, 59 L.Ed. 492; Old Wayne Mut. Life Ass’n v. McDonough, 204 U.S. 8, 27 S.Ct. 236, 51 L.Ed. 345; Mitchell Furniture Co. v. Selden Breck Co., 257 U.S. 213, 42 S.Ct. 84, 66 L.Ed. 201; Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Chatters, 279 U.S. 320, 49 S.Ct. 329, 73 L.Ed. 711. But the court in diese cases in applying the limited interpretation to the scope of the agency growing out of the appointment of an agent by a foreign corporation upon whom service of process could be made’and to the effect of a foreign [403] corporation’s doing business within the State where the action was lodged, recognized that local law might justify a broader interpretation of the scope of the agency and to the effect of doing business within the State. In appointing its agent in the State for the service of process, defendant impliedly consents to the interpretation placed upon it by the courts of that State. Pennsylvania Fire Ins. Co. v. Gold Issue Mining Co., 243 U.S. 93, 37 S.Ct. 344, 61 L.Ed. 610. Minnesota follows the majority rule that the mere fact that the cause of action arose or the transaction giving rise to it occurred beyond the territorial limits of the State does not prevent effective service of process upon the duly appointed agent of the foreign corporation under the State statute. 96 A.L.R. 366. The Supreme Court of Minnesota in Erving v. Chicago & N. W. Railway, 171 Minn. 87, 214 N.W. 12, announced its holding as follows: “The established policy in this state permits the suing of transitory actions, against foreign corporations, regardless of the place where the cause of action arose, if they may be reached by process.”

The defendant in the Erving case was a foreign corporation and had complied with the Minnesota statutes by appointing an agent upon whom service could be made. In that particular case, service had been effected upon the duly appointed agent of the railway company. Defendant herein does business in this State and was conducting its business in this State as a foreign corporation when service was made herein upon the agent it appointed as a condition of its right to do business herein. Under the doctrine, therefore, of the Neirbo case and the construction of the Minnesota courts as to the scope of the agency created by the appointment of an agent by a foreign corporation upon whom service of process may be made, the jurisdiction of this Court over the subject matter and the person of the defendant is fully sustained.

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Arney v. Central Electric & Gas Co., 66 F. Supp. 401, 1946 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2539 (mnd 1946).

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