Carver v. Haynes

37 F. Supp. 607, 1941 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3527
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedFebruary 26, 1941
DocketNo. 1259
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 37 F. Supp. 607 (Carver v. Haynes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carver v. Haynes, 37 F. Supp. 607, 1941 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3527 (S.D. Cal. 1941).

Opinion

O’CONNOR, District Judge.

This is a suit in tort to recover for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained on or about the 21st day of March, 1940, while plaintiffs were driving in their automobile on one of the public highways in the County of Los Angeles, State of California, when a motor vehicle belonging to and being operated by the defendants and being driven by the defendant, Robert Young Haynes, suddenly and without warning turned sharply to the left and toward the center of the highway and so ran into and upon and against the automobile being driven by the plaintiff, Grant Carver, and, because of such negligence, it is alleged that both plaintiffs were injured and their automobile was damaged. The complaint alleges that Robert Young Haynes was operating said truck as an employee of W. P. A. and acting within the scope of his employment under authority and supervision of defendants, Herbert C. Legg, as Administrator for W. P. A. of Southern California, Commissioner of Works Projects, and the Federal Works Administrator as agents of the W. P. A. The defendants moved to dismiss on the grounds:

(1) That the Court lacks jurisdiction over the subject matter because it is purely a tort action for negligence.

(2) That the Court lacks jurisdiction over the parties.

(3) That it is improper venue, there being no diversity of citizenship.

(4) That there is insufficiency of service of process.

(5) Because the complaint fails to state a claim against the defendants upon which relief can be granted.

[608]*608This action is brought under Judicial Code, section 24, amended, Title 28, U.S. C.A. Judicial Code, section 41. The Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, 15 U.S. C.A. §§ 721-728, and the various amendments thereto are set forth in the complaint. Counsel for plaintiffs admits his inability to find any case wherein a tort action brought against the W. P. A. has been decided. The Court has not found such a case.

There are numerous actions, both in contract and in tort, brought against other instrumentalities and agencies of the Federal Government. We find a direct conflict in many of these decisions. In re Walker v. Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, D.C., 25 F.Supp. 589, a tort action was instituted against the Home Owners Loan Corporation to recover for personal injury said to have been sustained in a fall from an unsafe chair in which plaintiff was invited to sit by an employee of the defendant while she was at defendant’s office for business purposes. District Judge Neterer held defendant could not be sued in tort. A contrary decision was rendered in Re Pennell v. Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, D.C., 21 F.Supp. 497. Plaintiff claimed to have been injured by the negligence of the defendant while upon its property. District Judge Peters held the defendant could be sued in tort.

The plaintiff, to sustain his right to sue the W. P. A. for negligence, cites the following: (1) Sloan Shipyards Corp. v. United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corp. 1922, 258 U.S. 549, 42 S.Ct. 386, 66 L.Ed. 762; (2) Gould Coupler Co. v. United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corp., D.C., 1919, 261 F. 716; (3) Federal Sugar Refining Co. v. United States Sugar Equalization Board, D.C., 1920, 268 F. 575; (4) Keifer & Keifer v. Reconstruction Finance Corp. and Regional Agricultural Credit Corp., 1939, 306 U.S. 381, 59 S.Ct. 516, 83 L.Ed. 784; (5) Casper v. Regional Agricultural Credit Corp., 1938, 202 Minn. 433, 278 N.W. 896; (6) Westbrook v. Director General of Railroads, D.C., 1920, 263 F. 211; (7) Salas v. United States, 2 Cir., 1916, 234 F. 842. A careful examination of these cases, in the opinion of this court, does not establish plaintiff’s contention.

In re Sloan Shipyards Corp. v. United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corp., supra, “The Shipping Act of September 7, 1916, c. 451; 39 Stat. 728 [46 U.S.C.A. § 801 et seq.] passed no doubt in contemplation of the possibility of war, to create a naval reserve and merchant marine, established the United States Shipping Board and gave it power to form a corporation under the laws of the District of Columbia for the purchase, construction and operation of merchant vessels * * *. The stock was not to exceed $50,000,000, and the Board was authorized to purchase not less than a majority of such stock. * * * The Shipping Act contemplated a corporation in which private persons might be stockholders and which was to be formed like any business corporation under the laws of the District, with capacity to sue and be sued.” 258 U.S. at page 565, 42 S.Ct. at page 387, 66 L.Ed. 762. It is clear the corporation was organized to carry on a business in competition with similar businesses in the United States.

An interesting dissent from this majority opinion was written by Mr. Chief Justice Taft, concurred in by Mr. Justice Van Devanter and Mr. Justice Clarke. 258 U.S. at page 570, 42 S.Ct. at page 389, 66 L.Ed. 762.

In Gould Coupler Co. v. United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corp., supra, the court said: “Section 11 of the Shipping Act (Comp.St. § 8146f [46 U.S.C.A. § 810]) provides that the corporation shall be chartered under the laws of the District of Columbia, and no one disputes that this means under its general corporation laws. The corporation was so formed under Code of Law D.C. c. 18, subchapter 4, which authorized actions by and against any corporation so organized. The Fleet Corporation was therefore meant to be a legal person without immunity quite as much as any other corporation.” 261 F. at page 717.

The court also refers to the fact that this particular corporation was engaged in industrial and commercial ventures and said: “ * * * the governmental agencies used should, whenever it can fairly be drawn from the statutes, be subject to the same liabilities and to the same .tribunals as other persons or corporations similarly employed.” 261 F. at page 718.

In Federal Sugar Refining Co. v. United States Sugar Equalization Board, supra, the court said: “The defenses rest principally upon the proposition that the defendant was an agent of the sovereign, and that an action against the agent is [609]*609in effect an action against the sovereign, and that the sovereign cannot be sued without its consent. * * * The agency here concerned is a Delaware corporation. Nothing in section 2, supra, purports to change (if there were power so to do) the rights, duties, obligations, and liabilities of such a corporation. The Congress did not enact any statute incorporating the defendant or specifically providing for its incorporation. Its incorporation was under the laws of Delaware, and the Revised Code of Delaware of 1915 (chapter 65, § 1916) provides:"

“ ‘Sec. 2. Powers. — Every corporation created under the provisions of- the chapter shall have power. * * * 2. To sue and be sued, complain and defend in any court of law or equity. * * * 8. To conduct business in this state, other states, the District of Columbia, the territories and colonies of the United States and in foreign countries. * * * ’
“If the sovereign thus chooses as its agent a state corporation which can be sued it cannot by ipse dixit deprive one injured by such an agent of the right to sue.

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Bluebook (online)
37 F. Supp. 607, 1941 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3527, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carver-v-haynes-casd-1941.