Coletti v. Ovaltine Food Products

274 F. Supp. 719, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8147
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedOctober 27, 1967
DocketCiv. 382-67
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 274 F. Supp. 719 (Coletti v. Ovaltine Food Products) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coletti v. Ovaltine Food Products, 274 F. Supp. 719, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8147 (prd 1967).

Opinion

ORDER

CANCIO, Chief Judge.

This case being before the Court on ■defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint for lack of jurisdiction, the par-lies having been heard and the Court otherwise fully informed on the premises, it is of the opinion that the motion to ■dismiss the complaint for lack of jurisdiction must be denied and the case remanded to the Superior Court of Puerto (Rico, San Juan Part, from where it was improperly removed in accordance with Section 1447 of Title 28, U.S.C.A.

The defendant, Ovaltine Food Products, is a branch, section or business division of the Wander Co., which is a foreign corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware, with its principal place of business in Illinois.

The record before this Court clearly establishes that the defendant corporation carried out business transactions within the territory of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico during the period of time specifically covered by the complaint herein filed.

Defendant contends, in its motion to dismiss and in its supporting memorandum that, as far as jurisdiction is concerned, plaintiff has not met the all important jurisdictional requirements which Rule 4.7(a) (1) provides. Although the defendant has in his memorandum argued that the decision of this Court in La Electronica, Inc. v. The Electric Storage Battery Co., et al., 260 F.Supp. 915, (D.C., 1966), regarding Rule 4.7 can be distinguished from the case at bar, this Court believes that in order to dispose of defendant’s main argument regarding lack of jurisdiction over the person of the defendant corporation, a most decisive portion of the opinion in Executive Air Services v. Beech Aircraft Corp., 254 F.Supp. 415 (D.C., 1966), must be cited.

Regarding the requirements which must be met in order to obtain jurisdiction by means of Rule 4.7, this Court stated:

To obtain jurisdiction over a juridical person in the manner foreseen in Rule 4.7 of the Rules of Civil Procedure of Puerto Rico, it is enough that that person have the minimal contacts in Puerto Rico envisaged by the Supreme Court of the United States in International Shoe Co. v. State of Washington, (1945), 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 and McGee v. International Life Insurance Co., (1957), 355 U.S. 220, 78 S.Ct. 199, 2 L.Ed.2d 223.

*721 It must be pointed out that the above rule follows very closely the modern trend which supports the expansion of state jurisdictional authority over nonresidents. Due process authorizes this approach in view of the problems which today arise in our greatly expanding economy.

The defendant corporation was properly served with process through the person of its legally designated agent, the Secretary of State of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, pursuant to Rule 4.7(b) of the Rules of Civil Procedure of 1958 for Puerto Rico. Furthermore, defendant expressly admitted that there was no objection on its part as to service of process.

Rule 4.7 of the Rules of Civil Procedure of 1958 for the General Court of Justice of Puerto Rico, as amended, provides as follows:

4.7 Substitute service

(a) Where the person to be served is not within Puerto Rico, the General Court of Justice of Puerto Rico shall have personal jurisdiction over said nonresident as if he were a resident of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, if the action or claim arises as a result of the following:
(1) Such person or his agent carries out business transactions within Puerto Rico; or
(2) Executes by himself or through his agent, tortious acts within Puerto Rico; or ******
(b) In such cases it shall be incontrovertibly presumed that the defendant has designated the Secretary of State of Puerto Rico as his agent and he shall signify his consent so that the former may receive service of summons, complaints, and judicial notices, and to such effect a copy of the summons and of the complaint shall be served upon the Secretary of State or upon his designee, and the plaintiff shall forthwith send to the defendant a copy of those documents by registered mail with return receipt. Any judicial step so taken shall have the same legal force and effect as a personal service. — Amended January 24, 1961, eff. July 31, 1961; June 28, 1965, No. 105, p. 277, eff. June 28, 1965 * * *

After a detailed examination of the remedial nature of the local law in controversy, this Court must therefore conclude that Rule 4.7(a) (1) of the Rules of Civil Procedure of Puerto Rico is completely applicable to the case at bar and that this Court has jurisdiction over the person of the defendant corporation. This has been previously decided by this Court in La Electronica, Inc. v. Electric Battery Co., supra, and United Medical Equipment Corp. v. Blickman, Inc., 260 F.Supp. 912, (D.C., 1966), Executive Air Services, Inc. v. Beech Aircraft Corp., supra, Volkswagen Interamericana S. A. v. Rohlsen, 360 F.2d 437, (1966), Caribbean Sales Association, Inc. v. Hayes Industries, 273 F.Supp. 598, Order of August 17, 1967 of this Court.

The particular question of statutory construction raised by the defendant to the effect that Rule 4.7(a) (1) applies or serves as a legal base upon which to assume jurisdiction over a nonresident, when such nonresident carries on or otherwise executes any type of business transaction within Puerto Rico, excluding torts, tortious acts or omissions resulting from a business transaction, is completely groundless and without legal basis.

The fact that a particular section of a remedial procedural law, like Rule 4.7, is so broad in one of its parts that a subsequent section becomes repetitive is not in itself a valid argument to defeat the broad jurisdictional scope of this section.

Rule 4.7 includes the execution of tortious acts as grounds to assume persona] jurisdiction over a nonresident. Such acts, of course, encompass the unilateral breach of a business contract which in itself constitutes a business transaction. This alone does not support the statutory construction which the defendant corporation prays for in its *722 motion to dismiss the complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction, which is based on the unjustified premise that Rule 4.7(a) (1) excludes business decisions or transactions which result in a tortious act, as grounds for acquiring jurisdiction over the person of the defendant corporation.

The so-called difference between the phrase used by the New York Civil Practice Law in its Section 302 and our own Rule 4.7(a) (1), to wit, “transacts any business” and “carries out business transactions” is not in any way substantial. As this Court understands these phrases, they are equally broad in scope, since both of them include torts arising out of or resulting from, or derived from a business act, transaction, decision or omission.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
274 F. Supp. 719, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8147, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coletti-v-ovaltine-food-products-prd-1967.