Eckstein v. Cummins

321 N.E.2d 897, 41 Ohio App. 2d 1, 70 Ohio Op. 2d 10, 16 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 373, 1974 Ohio App. LEXIS 2602
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 5, 1974
Docket7501
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 321 N.E.2d 897 (Eckstein v. Cummins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eckstein v. Cummins, 321 N.E.2d 897, 41 Ohio App. 2d 1, 70 Ohio Op. 2d 10, 16 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 373, 1974 Ohio App. LEXIS 2602 (Ohio Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

Brown, J.

This is an appeal from the final judgment on a non-jury award of the Common Pleas Court of Lucas County by defendant-appellant, Chrysler Motors Corporation, in favor of plaintiff-appellee, Richard Eckstein, in an action seeking damages of $10,000 or, in the alternative, *3 the revocation of the acceptance, or the rescission of a contract and.a refund of the purchase price for a 1971 Dodge' Dart automobile which plaintiff purchased from defend-' ant-appellee, Maumee Valley Dodge, Inc.

The Court of Common Pleas, in granting a. judgment > for plaintiff, ordered a rescission of the purchase contract j and that defendant Chrysler Motors Corporation replace the automobile or refund the purchase price with interest.

Plaintiff produced six witnesses who amply- proved, without contradiction, that within the first block the 1971-Dodge Dart was operated, after its purchase by plaintiff, and continuously thereafter, it evidenced a noise, hum and vibration when it reached a speed of 35 MPH to: 40 MPH and above that speed. The dealer, defendant Maumee Valley Dodge, tried valiantly, with frequent-and many, adjustments and replacements of parts at plaintiff’s request, to eliminate the vibration and noise defects. ' '' •<

During the year following the sale, the period covered by the Chrysler Corporation warranty, on a number of separate returns of the plaintiff’s automobile to the dealer, Maumee'Valley-Dodge, the dealer replaced, one after another, the following parts: alternator, water pump, fluid fan, power steering pump, manifold, exhaust, weights on transmission, torque connector, crankshaft, and motor mounts. The dealer also had the car sent' to the Chrysler Training Center for adjustments. None' of these efforts modified or eliminated the vibration, noise and hum which this automobile had at the time of purchase.

After two years, during which the automobile was driv-' en 18,000 miles, plaintiff filed this action. At the close of plaintiff’s evidence, the defendant, Maumee Valley Dodge, moved for its dismissal as a party-defendant and the trial court granted such motion.

The defendant Chrysler Motors Corporation moved, for a directed verdict. Counsel for such defendant statéd that Chrysler Corporation was not a party and that he (counsel) did not represent Chrysler Motors Corporation, but was appearing on behalf , of. “W.:W. Cummins, Agent for Chrysler Corporation, and in that capacity’.’ was ,mov *4 ing for a directed verdict. The trial judge observed that W. Cummins was an agent for both Chrysler Corporation and Chrysler Motors Corporation, and thereupon overruled the motion for a directed verdict for defendant, Chrysler Motors Corporation.

Thereafter, after a submission of briefs by both parties, the trial judge made findings of fact separate from conclusions of law and entered a judgment order that plaintiff recover of the defendant a replacement new car with the same options free of substantial defects at no cost to plaintiff, or, in the alternative, damages in the sum of $3,-461.54, with interest from May 4, 1971, and costs. As part of such judgment, the plaintiff was ordered to assign title for the 1971 Dodge Dart to defendant, Chrysler Motors Corporation, upon a satisfaction of such judgment

We will first consider the second assignment of error of defendant Chrysler Motors Corporation which involves a procedural and jurisdictional question and states as follows :

“When it appears on the face of the record that no service of process was ever made on defendant-appellant, Chrysler Motors Corporation, the trial court erred in entering judgment against said defendant-appellant.”

The defendant Chrysler Motors Corporation, in its answer setting forth four defenses, did properly allege, pursuant to Civil Rule 12(B), in its third defense, that the trial court lacked jurisdiction over Chrysler Motors Corporation by reason of the insufficiency of process and insufficiency of service of process on the defendant.

The record reveals, by return receipt number 330354, that a summons and a copy of the Complaint was directed by certified mail to “W. Cummins, Agent for Chrysler, P. O. Box 857, Detroit, Michigan,” and the receipt form is stamped “June 20, 1972, Chrysler Corporation, Detroit, Michigan, picked up by---.” The initials of the person by whom it was picked up, following the word “by,” are illegible. The initials might be those of W. Cummins, but it would take a scholar in hieroglyphics to hazard an educated: guess.

*5 The caption of the case appearing in the Complaint and in the copy of the summons made clear that a party-defendant was W. Cummins, Agent for Chrysler Motors Corporation. The summons and complaint were directed to W. Cummins, as such agent, at a specific address in Detroit. These were received and accepted in writing by Chrysler Corporation through Cummins or someone else it authorized to accept service of process. There was an appearance of authority, reasonable under the circumstances, given by Chrysler Motors Corporation, that Chrysler Motors Corporation or W. Cummins, agent for both corporations, could accept process for it. Chrysler Motors Corporation received actual notice of the Complaint and legal action, as is evidenced by the Answer it filed, designated “Answer of Defendant Chrysler Motors Corporation,” which set up its four defenses and proceeding to a trial on the merits.

Any defect in the service of process could not have been prejudicial to Chrysler Motors Corporation. The confusion surrounding the proper person or agent to serve was created by the two Chrysler corporate enterprises, jointly, by using the same logogram reference in the printed warranty issued by Chrysler Corporation for the 1971 Dodge Dart in controversy, stressing “Chrysler” without a designation of affiliation with either corporation.

Therefore, an actual service of process by certified mail was made upon defendant Chrysler Motors Corporation and was sufficient to satisfy the requirements of Civil Rules 4.1(1) and 4.2(6). Civil Rule 4.2 provides as follows:

“Service of process, except service by publication as provided in Rule 4.4(A), pursuant to Rule 4 through Rule 4.6 shall be made as follows ? * * *
“(6) Upon a corporation either domestic or foreign: by serving the agent authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process; or by serving the corporation by certified mail at any of its usual places of business; or by serving an officer or a managing or general agent of the corporation * *

The trial court also had the power to amend the proc *6 ess or proof of service to reflect the fact that Chrysler Motors Corporation received process in substantial compliance with Civil Rule 4, pursuant to Civil Rule 4.6(B), which provides as follows:

“(B) Amendment. The court within its discretion and upon such terms as are just, may at any time allow the amendment of any process or proof of service thereof, unless the amendment would cause material prejudice to the substantial rights of the party against whom the process was issued.”

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321 N.E.2d 897, 41 Ohio App. 2d 1, 70 Ohio Op. 2d 10, 16 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 373, 1974 Ohio App. LEXIS 2602, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eckstein-v-cummins-ohioctapp-1974.