Bond v. Pennsylvania Railroad

144 N.W. 942, 124 Minn. 195, 1914 Minn. LEXIS 495
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJanuary 2, 1914
DocketNos. 18,269—(150)
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 144 N.W. 942 (Bond v. Pennsylvania Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bond v. Pennsylvania Railroad, 144 N.W. 942, 124 Minn. 195, 1914 Minn. LEXIS 495 (Mich. 1914).

Opinion

Taylor, O.

Plaintiff’s husband was killed in a railroad wreck in the state of Pennsylvania, on December 5, 1911, while a passenger upon one of defendant’s trains. Plaintiff brought suit for damages in the district court of Hennepin county, and, in her complaint, set forth the Pennsylvania statute authorizing such actions. This statute contains the following limitation: “The action shall be brought within one year after the death, and not thereafter.” Defendant answered and among other things alleged that the action was not brought within one year after the death of the passenger and was barred by the statute. The summons and complaint were placed in the hands of the sheriff of Hennepin county for service, and, on November 23, 1912, he duly returned that the defendant could not be found, and, on the same date, the summons and complaint with this return attached thereto were filed in the office of the clerk of the district court. On the same date a large amount of money belonging to defendant was impounded by garnishment proceedings issued in the action. On November 30, 1912, the affidavit required by statute to. authorize constructive service upon a nonresident was filed, and on December 20, 1912, the summons and complaint were served upon defendant personally in the state of Pennsylvania. In her reply to the answer of defendant, plaintiff set forth these proceedings to show that the action was begun within the statutory time. Defendant demurred to the reply, the demurrer was overruled, and defendant appealed.

The proceedings by which jurisdiction was acquired are a part of [198]*198the record in the case, and it was not necessary to set them forth in the reply to have the court take notice of them. As it was not necessary to allege in the reply that these proceedings had been taken, defendant’s point that, as to a portion of them, the reply merely states a conclusion of law, is without force. While the practice, adopted in this case, of setting forth in a pleading the proceedings by which jurisdiction was acquired and then demurring to such pleading is unusual, a demurrer searches the record, and we will consider whether it appears from the complaint, in connection with the record, that the right of action was barred at the time the suit was begun.

An action brought in this state to recover damages for the death of a person caused by a wrongful act committed in another state, is based upon the statute of the state in which the cause of action arose; and the time within which such action may be brought is the time prescribed by such statute, and not the time prescribed by our own statutes. Negaubauer v. Great Northern Ry. Co. 92 Minn. 184, 99 N. W. 620, 104 Am. St. 674, 2 Ann. Cas. 150; Stewart v. Great Northern Ry. Co. 103 Minn. 156, 114 N. W. 953, 123 Am. St. 318; Casey v. American Bridge Co. 116 Minn. 461, 134 N. W. 111, 38 L.R.A (N.S.) 521. But the means by which our courts acquire jurisdiction, and the time at which the action is deemed as commenced, and all other matters pertaining to the procedure and to the remedy are determined and governed exclusively by our own statutes. Fryklund v. Great Northern Ry. Co. 101 Minn. 37, 111 N. W. 727; Brunette v. Minneapolis, St. P. & S. S. M. Ry. Co. 118 Minn. 444, 137 N. W. 172; Herrick v. Minneapolis & St. L. Ry. Co. 31 Minn. 11, 16 N. W. 413, 47 Am. Rep. 771; Wendell v. Lebon, 30 Minn. 234, 15 N. W. 109; First National Bank of Deadwood v. Gustin M. C. M. Co. 42 Minn. 327, 44 N. W. 198, 6 L.R.A. 676, 18 Am. St. 510; Pritchard v. Norton, 106 U. S. 124, 1 Sup. Ct. 102, 27 L. ed. 104; Pope v. Terre Haute C. M. Co. 87 N. Y. 139.

. Defendant is a foreign corporation and only a constructive service of the summons could be made upon it. Such service was made. If the suit was commenced when the summons and complaint were placed in the hands of the sheriff, the action was brought' within the statutory time. If it was not commenced until the constructive serv[199]*199ice had been completed by the service made upon the defendant in the state of Pennsylvania, it was not brought within the prescribed time and the right of action was barred by the statute.

Chapter 66 of the general statutes of 1866, as amended from time to time, is the code of civil procedure of the state of Minnesota and appears as chapter 77 of the revised laws of 1905. The first section of this code provides: “There shall be in this state but one form of action for the enforcement or protection of private rights and the redress of private wrongs.” Since the adoption of this code we have had but one form of action called a “civil action,” and but one method of procedure which applies alike to all such actions. Adams v. Castle, 64 Minn. 505, 67 N. W. 637; Palmer v. Yorks, 77 Minn. 20, 79 N. W. 587; Gilbert v. Boak Fish Co. 86 Minn. 365, 90 N. W. 767, 58 L.R.A. 735. Such actions “shall be commenced by the service of a summons as hereinafter provided.” Section 4102, B. L. 1905. There is no other way of commencing a civil action in this state, and the form of the summons and the manner of its service in all such actions is governed by this code. Crombie v. Little, 47 Minn. 581, 50 N. W. 823; H. L. Spencer Co. v. Koell, 91 Minn. 226, 97 N. W. 974. While there are statutes authorizing various special proceedings and prescribing the manner in which such proceedings shall be instituted and conducted, such statutes apply only to such special proceedings. Actions for damages, whether based upon our own statutes or upon those of other states, are governed by and must be brought and prosecuted under and as provided in the code of civil procedure.

The court has jurisdiction of the defendant from the time of the service of the summons.- Section 54, chapter 66, G. S. 1866. Section 4115, r. L. 1905. But in case of constructive service the court does not acquire jurisdiction until such constructive service is completed. Auerbach v. Maynard, 26 Minn.- 421, 4 N. W. 816.

Sections 13 and 14, chapter 66, G. S. 1866, are as follows:

Section 13: “An action is commenced as to each defendant, when the summons is served on him, or on a codefendant who is a joint contractor, or otherwise united in interest with him, and is deemed to be pending from the time of its commencement, until its final [200]*200determination upon appeal, or until the time for an appeal has passed, and the judgment has been satisfied.”

Section 14: “An attempt to commence an action is deemed equivalent to the commencement thereof, within the meaning of this chapter, when the summons is delivered, with the intent that it shall be actually served, to the sheriff or other officer of the county in which the defendants, or one of them, usually or last resided; or if a corporation is a defendant, to the sheriff or other officer of the county in which such corporation was established by law, or where its general business was transacted, or where it kept an office for the transaction of business; but such an attempt shall be followed by the first publication of the summons, or the service thereof, within sixty days.”

These two sections remained unchanged until the revision of 1905. In that revision they were combined into one section which reads as-follows:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 N.W. 942, 124 Minn. 195, 1914 Minn. LEXIS 495, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bond-v-pennsylvania-railroad-minn-1914.