Bohemia Lumber Co. v. Eimco Corp.

223 F. Supp. 178, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9644
CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedOctober 10, 1963
DocketCiv. No. 63-261
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 223 F. Supp. 178 (Bohemia Lumber Co. v. Eimco Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bohemia Lumber Co. v. Eimco Corp., 223 F. Supp. 178, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9644 (D. Or. 1963).

Opinion

KILKENNY, District Judge.

The issues raised on the defendant’s motion to quash the service of process are:

(1) Does Oregon law permit the service of process on the Corporation Commissioner on the facts presented ?

(2) Was defendant doing business in Oregon, to an extent which would subject it to the jurisdiction of the Oregon Courts ?

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiff’s complaint charges the defendant with numerous fraudulent representations made by defendant’s agents to plaintiff in the State of Oregon.

From the evidence before me, I find that defendant, during the period of time in question, engaged in the following activities in Oregon.

(1) Made Gunderson Bros, a distributor by written agreement. A substantial part of the negotiations leading up to the agreement being conducted by defendant’s employees in Oregon.

(2) For a substantial period of time defendant directed its factory representative to reside and represent the company in Oregon, the duties of which representative included contacting potential customers, approving orders for parts and participating in demonstrations of defendant’s equipment.

[179]*179(3) Defendant furnished the distributor in Oregon with memoranda covering technical aspects of all of defendant’s machines and conducted a direct mail advertising campaign in an attempt to solicit sales in Oregon.

(4) The distributor made sales of defendant’s equipment and machines on a “percentage” and likewise on a “discount arrangement”. Defendant controlled the prices to be charged by the distributor upon sales in Oregon of defendant’s products.

(5) Defendant furnished to distributor a large volume of circulars, pamphlets, catalogs and other literature and materials to be used in the promotion of sales in Oregon, the distributor being the exclusive sales representative for a designated portion of said state.

(6) The agreement provided that distributor would not handle products which would be competitive with those of the defendant and that on the termination of the agreement all orders for equipment and names' of purchasers were to be turned over and delivered to defendant.

(7) On occasion, the distributor has returned equipment and machinery to defendant, under a right to do so in said agreement and was reimbursed therefor by defendant.

(8) The defendant made arrangements for the bulldozer, which is the subject of this action, to be transported by truck from Eugene to Salt Lake City.

(9) In 1962, defendant leased a bulldozer to a third party for use in Oregon and through its regular employees assisted in selling, demonstrating, testing and servicing defendant’s equipment and machines in Oregon.

(10) In the Agreed Statement of Facts in the Pre-Trial Order filed in this Court in Civil No. 60-476, defendant represented to the Court that the following was true:

“3. That on or about February 20, 1959, in Salt Lake City, Utah, plaintiff Norman Janzen met with Joseph Rosenblatt, President of defendant corporation, (defendant here) to discuss terms of an Eimco dealership contract for part of the Northwest; that Joseph Rosenblatt had the final authority in behalf of defendant corporation to negotiate and enter into all dealership contracts and authority to carry on in behalf of defendant all phases of its business; that James Raven, district representative in Portland, Oregon, for defendant, had been given previous instructions by Joseph Rosenblatt to investigate plaintiffs for a possible Eimco dealership and report to him. This investigation and report was made as directed; that by the authority of Joseph Rosenblatt an announcement was made for publication stating that plaintiffs were the new Eimco dealers in Portland, Oregon; that no dealership contract was ever submitted to plaintiffs for signature.
“4. That plaintiffs called upon many potential purchasers of Eimco equipment, some of which calls were made in the company of James Raven.”

(11) The representations alleged in the complaint were made to the plaintiff in Oregon and the bulldozer in question was demonstrated, tested, revised, repaired and serviced in said state, not once but many times on the suggestion of and with the direct assistance and participation of defendant’s personnel.

DECISION

Process in this case was served on the Corporation Commissioner of the State of Oregon as the statutory agent for defendant.

ORS1 57.700 provides, among other things, that “ * * * the Corporation Commissioner shall be an agent of such corporation upon whom any such process, notice or demand may be served. * * ” (Such corporation) is “[A] foreign corporation authorized to transact business [180]*180in this state * * * ”, or “any foreign corporation which transacts business in this state without being authorized as provided in this chapter.” (Emphasis supplied.)

The phrase “authorized as provided in this chapter” refers, in the main, to ORS 57.655(1) which provides:

“No foreign corporation shall have the right to transact business in this state until it shall have procured a certificate of authority so to do from the Corporation Commissioner.”

The phrase “transact business” is partially defined in ORS 57.655(2) which provides, among other things, that:

“ * * * a foreign corporation shall not be considered to be transacting business in this state, for the purposes of this chapter, by reason of carrying on in this state any one or more of the following activities:
* * * * * #
“(e) Effecting sales through independent contractors.
“(f) Soliciting or procuring orders, whether by mail or through employes or agents or otherwise, where such orders require acceptance without this state before becoming binding contracts.
******
“(i) Transacting any business in interstate commerce.
“ (j) Conducting an isolated transaction completed within a period of 30 days and not in the course of a number of repeated transactions of like nature.”

In an able and resourceful argument, defendant’s counsel urge that there is a distinction between “doing business”, as that phrase is used in International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95; McGee v. International Life Insurance Co., 355 U.S. 220, 78 S.Ct. 199, 2 L.Ed.2d 223; and Enco, Inc. v. F. C. Russell Co., 210 Or. 324, 311 P.2d 737, and the phrase “transact business” as used in the Oregon statute under which defendant was served.

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Related

Stewart v. Allied Construction & Engineering Co.
288 F. Supp. 541 (D. Oregon, 1968)
Rake v. City Lumber Co. of Bridgeport, Inc.
283 F. Supp. 870 (D. Oregon, 1967)
Hiersche v. Seamless Rubber Co.
225 F. Supp. 682 (D. Oregon, 1963)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
223 F. Supp. 178, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9644, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bohemia-lumber-co-v-eimco-corp-ord-1963.