Brust v. First National Bank

198 N.W. 749, 184 Wis. 15, 1924 Wisc. LEXIS 239
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedMay 6, 1924
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 198 N.W. 749 (Brust v. First National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brust v. First National Bank, 198 N.W. 749, 184 Wis. 15, 1924 Wisc. LEXIS 239 (Wis. 1924).

Opinion

Owen, J.

The plaintiffs raise numerous questions concerning the jurisdiction and the proper place of trial of the action, which will first be disposed of. The case was commenced in the civil court of Milwaukee county. The defendant made an application to that court for change of venue to Portage county, claiming that as the defendant bank' was domiciled in the city of Stevéns Point, in that county, that was the proper place of trial. This application was denied by the civil court for the reason that no statutory provision authorizes a change of venue from the civil court of Milwaukee county. The defendant then defaulted, and judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiffs in sa-id civil court. Thereupon the defendant appealed to the circuit court, where its application for a change of the place of trial was renewed. The circuit court granted the application and made an order transferring the case to the circuit court for Portage county, where a trial de novo was had, with the result already ■ stated.' It seems proper that we first consider whether the civil" court of Milwaukee county ’had any jurisdiction of the case.

Sec." 5198 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, as amended by ch. 80, approved February 18, 1875, provides that “Suits, actions, and proceedings against any association under this title may be had in any circuit, district, • or territorial court of the United States held within the district in which such association may be established, or in any state, county, or municipal court in the county or city in which said association is located having jurisdiction in similar cases.” Sec. 4 of ch. 290 of the act of Congress approved July 12, 1882, entitled “An act' to enable natipnal banking associations to" extend their corporate existence, and [19]*19for other purposes,” provides, so far as material here, as follows: '

“The jurisdiction for suits hereafter brought by or against any association established under any law providing for national banking associations, except suits between them and the United States, or its officers and agents, shall be the same as, and not other, than, the jurisdiction for suits by or against banks not organized under any law of the United, States which do or might do banking business where such' national banking associations may be doing business when such suits may be begun. And all laws and parts of laws of the United States inconsistent with this proviso be, and the same are hereby, repealed.”

This provision appears in the Compiled Statutes of the United States as sec. 9668.

It is the contention of the defendant bank that the jurisdiction of state courts to entertain suits against national banks is defined by sec. 5198 of the Revised Statutes, above quoted, and that, by the terms of that section, only state courts located within the municipality or county in which' the national bank is located may entertain jurisdiction of a suit against a national bank. The plaintiffs contend that the act of 1882 is applicable, and that under the provisions of that act any state court which would have jurisdiction of an action against a state bank similarly situated may entertain jurisdiction against a national bank. That the latter contention is correct seems to us quite clear. The act of 1882 is a later enactment than sec. 5198. It seems to cover the subject of jurisdiction of state courts in actions against national banks, and expressly provides that all laws and parts of laws inconsistent therewith are repealed. It seems to have been the policy of Congress to place state and national banks on an equal footing in this respect. Such was the conclusion of the Michigan court in Levitan v. Houghton Nat. Bank, 174 Mich. 566, 140 N. W. 1019. While we are referred to ho case decided by the federal [20]*20supreme court involving the question, we are referred, to the cases of First Nat. Bank v. Fellows, 244 U. S. 416, 37 Sup. Ct. 734, and First Nat. Bank v. Missouri, 263 U. S. 640, 44 Sup. Ct. 213, in both of which original jurisdiction was taken by the respective state supreme courts, and no- question of the jurisdiction seems to have been raised. It is manifest that if the terms of sec. 5198 governed the question of the jurisdiction of state courts over actions against national banks, the question of jurisdiction would have arisen, as neither supreme court was a court of the county in which the bank was located. As the civil court of Milwaukee county could take jurisdiction of an action against a state bank located in Portage county, it follows very plainly, it seems to us, that it might also acquire jurisdiction of a national bank located in that county. We therefore hold that the civil court of Milwaukee county had jurisdiction.

The civil court act for Milwaukee county makes no provision for a change of venue from that court to another county where the defendants are nonresidents of Milwaukee county. Sub. 3a of sec. 28 of that act (ch. 261, Laws 1913) provides that on any appeal from said civil court to the circuit court of Milwaukee county, nonresident defendants may make application for a change of the place-of trial in like manner and for like causes as in cases originally' brought in the circuit court, and as provided in like cases on appeal from justice’s court by sec. 2624 of the Statutes, and upon such change of venue the circuit court of the county where the defendant resides shall have jurisdiction of such action, the same as on appeal from justice’s court, and there shall be a trial de novo in the same cases and under the same provisions of law as in the cases of appeals from justice's court. It follows that the civil court had no power to grant defendant’s application for a change of the place of trial, but that the circuit court did have the'power to do so if defendant was entitled to a change of the place of trial under the provisions of our statutes relating to that subject. [21]*21Whether it had such right must be determined by the provisions of sec. 2619, Stats. Such right on the part of the defendant must be determined by a consideration of the sixth and seventh subdivisions of that section. The first three subdivisions of that section provide for the place of trial of various actions therein enumerated. The fourth subdivision relates to actions against railroads and interurban railroads. The fifth relates to actions against insurance companies. The sixth subdivision is as follows: “Of an action against any other corporation existing under the law of this state, the county in which it is situated or has its principal office or. place of business, or in which the cause of action or some part thereof arose.” And the seventh subdivision provides: “Of any other action, the county in which any defendant resides at the commencement of the action; or if neither defendant resides within this state, any county which the plaintiff designates in his complaint.”

If a national bank can be said to be a corporation “existing under the laws of this state,” then the change of the place of trial was improperly granted, as the cause of action arose, in Milwaukee county. Appellants contend that a national bank does exist under the laws of the state of Wisconsin, relying upon our decision in State ex rel. Wis. Dry Milk Co. v. Circuit Court, 176 Wis. 198, 186 N. W.

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Bluebook (online)
198 N.W. 749, 184 Wis. 15, 1924 Wisc. LEXIS 239, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brust-v-first-national-bank-wis-1924.