Bull v. Kistner

135 N.W.2d 545, 257 Iowa 968, 1965 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 647
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJune 8, 1965
Docket51627
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 135 N.W.2d 545 (Bull v. Kistner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bull v. Kistner, 135 N.W.2d 545, 257 Iowa 968, 1965 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 647 (iowa 1965).

Opinion

Thornton, J.

— This is a case of first impression. Plaintiff appeals from an order sustaining a special appearance of, and quashing service of notice on, defendant Harold E. Kistner, Jr.

Plaintiff is a trustee in bankruptcy. He brings this action against the above named defendant and others as stockholders,officers and directors of the bankrupt corporation asking a full and complete accounting of their profits and judgment therefor.

. At the time of service,- defendant Harold E. Kistner, Jr., was. an inmate of the Federal Correctional Institution at Sandstone, Minnesota. Plaintiff obtained service on said defendant-pursuant to rule 56(a); Rules of Civil Procedure, by leaving a *970 copy with his wife in Sheldon, Iowa. Rule 56, in pertinent part, provides:

“* * * Personal service may be made as follows:
“(a) Upon any individual * * *; or by serving, at his dwelling house or usual place of abode, * *

This rule supersedes our former statute, section 11060, paragraph 2, Code of Iowa, 1939, * * usual place of residence * * * ” See Ruth & Clark v. Emery, 233 Iowa 1234, 11 N.W.2d 397.

The return of the deputy sheriff states: “* * * I served the same on the defendant IT. E. Kistner, Jr., at his dwelling house or usual place of abode in the city of Sheldon in O’Brien County, State of Iowa, and which place was not a rooming house, hotel, club or apartment building, by there delivering a copy thereof to Mrs. Harold E. Kistner, Jr., a person residing therein who is at least eighteen years old.”

Defendant’s special appearance states said defendant “is presently an inmate of an institution in charge of the United States of America, and outside the State of Iowa”, that notice was attempted as stated in the return, the service is void because so served and for the reason that it does not comply with the Rules of Civil Procedure. In an amendment thereto counsel for defendant attaches his affidavit wherein he states defendant Harold E. Kistner, Jr., “was at the time of the commencement of said action, is now, and has been continuously since prior to the time of the commencement of this action, an inmate of the Federal Correctional Institution at Sandstone, Minnesota, which is an' institution, which, has been, and is, in charge of the United States of America.”

I. Defendant in his printed- argument concedes that prior to his. confinement at Sandstone he had resided with his wife and family at Sheldon, Iowa.

The parties agree the question to be determined is what' constituted the “dwelling house or usual place of abode” of defendant. Harold E. Kistner, Jr., at the time of service. Was it his home in Sheldon? Was it the Federal Correctional Institution at Sandstone?

As presented, the question is one of law. . Does the bare, fact *971 of defendant’s incarceration at Sandstone by the Federal Government, without further showing, change his usual place of abode and does the correctional institution become his usual place of abode? We think not. .

In Bohland v. Smith, 7 F. R. D. 364, 365 (1947), the Federal District Court, in upholding a similar return: of ..service under Federal Rule 4(d)(1) “by leaving copies thereof at his dwelling house or usual place of abode”, -said:

“The sole- question involved is whether- it can be said that his absence from his home, brought about by his incarceration, brings about a change in the usual-place of abode of defendant. I am of the opinion that where one voluntarily establishes a place of abode or residence but is prevented from occupying it, by act of his sovereign or otherwise, his place of abode is not changed:”

In 1836 the Supreme Court of Connecticut in Grant v. Dalliber, 11 Conn. 234, 237, in dealing with a statute providing writs of. attachment must be .served “by leaving with the person *• * * or at his usual place of abode”; held service at the dwelling house where defendant prisoner’s, wife and family lived and he had lived before his imprisonment was proper, the court, at page 238 of 11 Conn., said:

.. “Before his imprisonment, his usual place of abode-was in-Torrington, in the same dwelling house where, the -copy of the: writ was left in service, where his family dwelt, and to which, as to his home, he returned, upon his enlargement from prison. He had never abandoned this, as his place of residence; he -had-left. it,.by constraint; he had-acquired no new or Dther place of residence. The state’s prison was not the place of his abode; .it was the place .of his'punishment; and while there, he was absent from home..' ■ •
“We think it may be said generally, that the place in which a married man’s family resides, with his consent, and where he has voluntarily resided with them, as his homeland which he has never abandoned, may well be considered as the place of his abode, unless such residence has been, and was intended to be,temporary and for transient purposes. -And such place of resi-, dence or usual abocLe, is not changed or. abandoned, ■ by a con-, strained .-removal; as by imprisonment.’-’ - - -

*972 In 1868 the Connecticut court in Dunn’s Appeal, 35 Conn. 82, 84, 85, held a service on a prisoner was proper by leaving' a copy with him at the jail. The statute required the summons to be served by copy left at the usual place of abode. The prisoner’s former home had been sold by his trustee in insolvency. The court- said:

“We think therefore, that the service was, under the circumstances, properly made by leaving a copy with him at the jail. True, this was the place of his imprisonment, and can, therefore, hardly be said to be his home.”

In 1897 the Nebraska court in Walker v. Stevens, 52 Neb. 653, 72 N.W. 1038, held service on a prisoner by leaving a copy at the home he had occupied prior to his imprisonment was proper under a statute providing for such service at his usual-place of residence.

It is the general rule a person’s domicile or residence is not changed by his imprisonment. Cohen v. United States, 297 F.2d 760, 774 (1962); Shaffer v. Tepper, 127 F. Supp. 892, 894 (1955); 17A Am. Jur., Domicil, section 48, page 233; and 28 C. J. S., Domicile, section 12(7), page 29.

II. We agree with defendant “usual place of abode” is a more restrictive term than residence or domicile, but we do not agree it is so restrictive as to exclude entirely a consideration of volition.

Courts are not in agreement. 42 Am. Jur., Process, section 61, page 49; 72 C. J. S., Process, section 47, pages 1057-1059; Annotations, 127 A. L. R. 1267 and 46 A. L. R.2d 1239. It is repeatedly stated each case depends on its own facts.

It is true courts do consider the defendant’s actions to determine his usual place of abode and state the inquiry is where he is actually living at the time of service.

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Bluebook (online)
135 N.W.2d 545, 257 Iowa 968, 1965 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 647, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bull-v-kistner-iowa-1965.