Beatrice Martens v. Lyman G. Winder

341 F.2d 197
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedApril 12, 1965
Docket19544_1
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 341 F.2d 197 (Beatrice Martens v. Lyman G. Winder) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beatrice Martens v. Lyman G. Winder, 341 F.2d 197 (9th Cir. 1965).

Opinion

BARNES, Circuit Judge:

This is an appeal from a district court order of May 14, 1964, dismissing appellant’s fourth amended complaint without leave to amend. Appellant, a California resident, filed the original complaint on December 5, 1962, joining as defendants her sister, Dorothy Smith, a California resident, and her brother, Lyman Winder, a resident of Canada. Appellant subsequently amended her complaint prior to service by deleting Dorothy Smith as a party defendant.

Appellant, appearing in propria persona, had great difficulty in framing her complaint to the satisfaction of the district court. She was permitted to amend her complaint three times until the district court was satisfied that the complaint stated no basis upon which it could exercise jurisdiction. The district court granted the motion to dismiss on the grounds: (1) that it lacked in per-sonam jurisdiction over the person of the defendant; (2) that it lacked in rem jurisdiction over the property involved; and (3) that appellant had failed to join an indispensable party to the third cause of action.

The complaint stated three causes of action. The first alleged that appellee had breached the confidential and fiduciary relationship with appellant that he had assumed to protect appellant’s interests in certain Canadian assets, including real property, in their mother’s estate. Appellant alleges that her interests in the realty and personalty of the estate have been converted by appel-lee. The second cause of action is essentially a reiteration of the first, underscoring the fraudulent misrepresentations allegedly made by appellee. The third cause of action alleges fraudulent misrepresentations and breach of a partition agreement among appellant, ap-pellee and Dorothy Smith concerning certain California realty which was the subject of their father’s estate. Appellant alleged that appellee made several fraudulent misrepresentations which caused appellant to incur expenses for the prospective sale of the realty; that appellee refused to convey his interests as agreed so that appellant could effect a sale of the realty; and that appellee sought to insulate himself from liability by assigning his interests in the property by a deed of trust to Dorothy Smith.

Appellant’s complaint states only one basis upon which federal jurisdiction couid be founded, viz., diversity of citizenship as it relates to controversies between citizens of a state and citizens of foreign states. 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Appellant is a citizen of California; ap-pellee is a citizen of Canada. Diversity of citizenship does unquestionably exist between the two parties. Appellee contends, however, that the district court was nevertheless without jurisdiction to entertain this suit because he was not personally served within the borders of California. Appellant contends that personal service within California was not necessary; and, alternatively, that even should the court find that California service was necessary, appellee has effectively waived his objection by appearing to defend the suit on its merits.

Rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure prescribes certain standards for the proper service of process on defendants to civil litigation. Subdivision (f) of that Rule provides:

“(f) Territorial Limits of Effective Service * * * All process other than a subpoena may be served anywhere within the territorial limits of the state in which the district court is held, and, when authorized by a statute of the United States
*199 or by these rules, beyond the territorial limits of that state. * * * ”

No statute of the United States exists which provides an exception to the general requirement of service within the state for an action such as appellant’s in the present case. Under the 1963 Amendment to Rule 4(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, however, an alternative possibility now exists to validate personal service of process on a non-domiciliary beyond the confines of the state in which the district court sits. This rule, as amended, reads in part:

“(e) * * * Service Upon Party Not Inhabitant of or Found within State. Whenever a statute of the United States or an order of court thereunder provides for service of a summons, or of a notice, or of an order in lieu of summons upon a party not an inhabitant of or found within the state in which the district court is held, service may be made under the circumstances and in the manner prescribed by the statute or order, or, if there is no provision therein prescribing the manner of service, in a manner stated in this rule. Whenever a statute or rule of court of the state in which the district court is held provides (1) for service of a summons, or of a notice, or of an order in lieu of summons upon a party not an inhabitant of or found within the state, * * * service may * * * be made under the circumstances and in the manner prescribed in the statute or rule.”

The second sentence of the subdivision, added by the 1963 Amendment, permits resort to state procedures for service on non-resident parties and absent domiciliaries. The Amendment recognized the need for revised procedures in the face of broadening jurisdictional exercises such as non-resident motorist laws and other state “long-arm” statutes. It is necessary, therefore, to examine the California statutes to ascertain if the method of service utilized by appellant was authorized by the State procedural rules.

As noted in the Memorandum Opinion of the district court, Sections 412 and 413 of the California Code of Civil Procedure provide for service by publication upon non-resident defendants as well as service by mail or personal service where the foreign residence is known. In the present case, appellee was served by publication in an Oakland, California legal newspaper, and was also served personally in British Columbia, Canada. Nevertheless, in personam jurisdiction was not obtained over appellee because of the restrictions imposed by Section 417 of the California Code of Civil Procedure, which provides as follows:

“Where jurisdiction is acquired over a person who is outside of this State by publication of summons in accordance with Sections 412 and 413, the court shall have the power to render a personal judgment against such person only if he was personally served with a copy of the summons and complaint, and was a resident of this State (a) at the time of the commencement of the action, or (b) at the time that the cause of action arose, or (c) at the time of service.” (Emphasis added.)

“Resident” is the equivalent of “domiciliary.” Hartford v. Supreme Court, 47 Cal.2d 447, 304 P.2d 1 (1956).

The record of this case amply demonstrates that at all times relevant under Section 417, appellee was a resident of Canada, not of California.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Phillips v. Electoral College
36 F. App'x 306 (Ninth Circuit, 2002)
Romero v. Star Markets, Ltd.
922 P.2d 1018 (Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals, 1996)
Griffin v. Abbott
68 F.R.D. 241 (E.D. Tennessee, 1975)
Mina Wright v. James Yackley
459 F.2d 287 (Ninth Circuit, 1972)
Peterson v. Dickison
334 F. Supp. 551 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1971)
Gahagan v. Patterson
316 F. Supp. 1099 (D. Minnesota, 1970)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
341 F.2d 197, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beatrice-martens-v-lyman-g-winder-ca9-1965.