Balashov v. Baltic Shipping Co.

687 So. 2d 1101, 96 La.App. 4 Cir. 1129, 1997 La. App. LEXIS 81, 1997 WL 25164
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 22, 1997
Docket96-CA-1129
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 687 So. 2d 1101 (Balashov v. Baltic Shipping Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Balashov v. Baltic Shipping Co., 687 So. 2d 1101, 96 La.App. 4 Cir. 1129, 1997 La. App. LEXIS 81, 1997 WL 25164 (La. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

687 So.2d 1101 (1997)

Vitalij BALASHOV
v.
BALTIC SHIPPING COMPANY.

No. 96-CA-1129.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

January 22, 1997.
Writ Denied April 18, 1997.

*1102 John J. Broders, Elizabeth Slatten Healy, Jonathan H. Sandoz, Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre, New Orleans, Matthew D. Baxter, Egorov, Pughinsky, Afanafiev & Juring, Philadelphia, PA, for Defendant/Appellant.

Richard J. Dodson, David C. Vidrine, Dodson & Vidrine, Baton Rouge, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Before BYRNES, ARMSTRONG and PLOTKIN, JJ.

BYRNES, Judge.

The plaintiff, Vitalij Balashov, allegedly sustained severe injuries while working on board the defendant, Baltic Shipping Company's vessel, the M/V Sverdlovsk. Plaintiff ascribes these injuries to the negligence of Baltic's employees and to the unseaworthiness of the vessel.

The proceedings commenced on November 30, 1995 with the seizure of a Baltic vessel within the jurisdiction of the lower court pursuant to a nonresident writ of attachment and, after a trial on the merits, concluded two months later on February 1, 1996 with a personal judgment against Baltic for $6,083,054.00, plus interest from the date of the accident on $450,000.00, costs of the proceedings and the costs of the custodia legis in connection with the attachment. Baltic appeals. We affirm.

The nonresident writ of attachment was issued pursuant to LSA-C.C.P. art. 3541(5)[1] against a Baltic vessel, the M/V Nickolay Krylenko, based on the assumption that Baltic was a foreign corporation[2] without a resident agent for service of process duly registered with the Louisiana Secretary of State.

The record reflects that Baltic filed a "Notice of Appointment of Agent for Service of Process" with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on February 13, 1995, more than eight months prior to November 30, 1995 when the plaintiff, Balashov, filed his petition for a nonresident writ of attachment. This notice appointed Mr. Henry Chaisson as Baltic's agent for service of process. The trial court found that absent registration with the Louisiana Secretary of State, this designation was not sufficient to defeat the nonresident writ of attachment. The trial court relied on LSA-R.S. 13:3485 which requires registration with the Secretary of State, but Baltic counters that LSA-R.S. 13:3485 refers only to individuals and partnerships and the failure to refer to foreign corporations such as Baltic means that the statute was not intended to impose the requirement of registration *1103 on them. Baltic contends that had it been the intention of the legislature to include corporations within the ambit of LSA-R.S. 13:3485 it would have used the term "corporation" or replaced the terms "individual" and "partnership" with the more universal term "person" which would have included not only those two terms, but "corporations" as well. Cf. LSA-C.C.P. art. 5251(12).

We agree with Baltic that LSA-R.S. 13:3485 was not intended to apply to corporations. This conclusion is reinforced by McMahon's comment to LSA-R.S. 13:3485[3] which notes that this statute was, "Added on the recommendation of the Louisiana State Law Institute to encourage the appointment of agents for the service of process by nonresident individuals and partnerships." [emphasis added.]

That the legislature's distinction between individuals and partnerships on the one hand and corporations on the other is an historically conscious and intentional one may be seen by reference to Act 215 of 1920 concerning nonresident attachments as discussed in Roper v. Brooks, 201 La. 135, 9 So.2d 485, 489:

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General assembly of the State of Louisiana, That in all suits instituted in any of the courts of this State, in which the demand is for damages arising from an offense, quasi-offense, or tort and where the defendant, whether an individual, partnership (commercial or ordinary) or a corporation, is a non-resident of this State, or not domiciled therein, or, in the case of a corporation, not incorporated under the laws thereof, the plaintiff shall have the right to sue out a writ of attachment against the property of the defendant, upon making affidavit and giving bond, as now required by law, in suits against non-resident defendants for other causes of action, provided that the provisions of this act shall not apply in cases where the individual, partnership (commercial or ordinary) or corporation has appointed an agent in the State of Louisiana upon whom service of process made be made. [Emphasis added.]

Although we agree with Baltic that LSA-R.S. 13:3485 does not apply to corporations, we believe that the reason it does not is because it is assumed that nonresident corporations with local agents for service will have registered them under other provisions of the law. In Normann v. Burnham's Van Service, 73 So.2d 640 (La.App.Orl.1954) this court recognized and discussed the distinction in this area of the law between individuals and partnerships on the one hand, and corporations on the other. Therefore, the fact that LSA-R.S. 13:3485 does not refer to corporations does not, in itself, mean that Baltic can defeat a nonresident writ of attachment with an appointed local agent for service of process who is not registered with the Secretary of State.

Baltic concedes that it had no agent for service registered with the Louisiana Secretary of State, but contends that it was required to have only a "designated" agent who did not have to register with the Louisiana Secretary of State. LSA-C.C.P. art. 5251(2) provides:

"Agent for service of process" means the agent designated by a person or by law to receive service of process in actions and proceedings brought against him in the courts of this state.

Baltic contends that "designation" as required by LSA-C.C.P. art. 5251(2) is not the same as "registration" with the Secretary of State. In support of this position Baltic cites Gazzier v. Columba Transport Co., Ltd., 95-1755 p. 6 (La.App. 4 Cir. 5/29/96), 675 So.2d 826, 830, where it says: "Nothing in [LSA-C.C.P. art. 5251(2)] requires any kind of formality attached to the appointment of an agent for service of process."

*1104 In Gazzier service of process upon an agent appointed by the defendant, but not registered with the Secretary of State, was held to be sufficient to maintain personal jurisdiction upon the defendant. But no nonresident writ of attachment issued in Gazzier. Therefore, Balashov also cites Gazzier, but for the proposition that an agent's appointment may be sufficient to permit personal service upon the nonresident to be made through such an agent without that agent being registered with the Secretary of State. We agree.

Further, plaintiff contends that the failure to register that agent with the Secretary of State means that such agent is not "duly appointed" within the intendment of LSA-C.C.P. art. 3541(5) and the existence of such an unregistered agent will not preclude the issuance of a nonresident attachment. Simply put, according to the plaintiff, Baltic's appointed but unregistered agent could be served but could not prevent the issuance of a nonresident writ. We agree.

Baltic contends that when LSA-C.C.P. art. 3541(5) provides authority for a nonresident writ of attachment where the nonresident "has no duly-appointed

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Bluebook (online)
687 So. 2d 1101, 96 La.App. 4 Cir. 1129, 1997 La. App. LEXIS 81, 1997 WL 25164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/balashov-v-baltic-shipping-co-lactapp-1997.