Edison Industries, Inc. v. Chickasha Mobile Homes, Inc.

299 F. Supp. 1008, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8603
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedMay 23, 1969
DocketNo. 4-69 Civ. 64
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 299 F. Supp. 1008 (Edison Industries, Inc. v. Chickasha Mobile Homes, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Edison Industries, Inc. v. Chickasha Mobile Homes, Inc., 299 F. Supp. 1008, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8603 (mnd 1969).

Opinion

NEVILLE, District Judge.

Before the court in the above entitled case is defendant’s motion to quash service of process on the ground that there is lack of jurisdiction over the person of the defendant or alternatively for dismissal of the complaint on the ground that it fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The complaint asserts a claim for alleged breach by defendant of a contract to sell mobile homes to plaintiff and a claim for tortious misrepresentation by defendant to plaintiff with respect to the defendant’s ability and intention to carry out such contract.

The motion to quash service of process is denied. Personal jurisdiction over the defendant was achieved by substituted service upon the Secretary of State pursuant to the “One Act Statute,” Minn.Stat. § 303.13, subd. 1(3) 1. Defendant makes no claim that the procedures of the statute were not followed, but only that it is inapplicable here because the complaint fails to show that there was any contract between the par[1010]*1010ties or that defendant committed any tort in Minnesota.

Plaintiff, in resisting defendant’s motion, has filed an affidavit of its president, setting forth more detail than is contained in the complaint. Defendant’s motion does not indicate under what Federal Rule it is brought but if it be deemed to be a motion under Rule 12 (b) (2), for all practical purposes it is in effect a motion for judgment on the pleadings, for defendant claims that the lack of jurisdiction appears conclusively on the face of the complaint in that no valid contract is alleged or set forth therein. Considering then that this is a motion for judgment on the pleadings under Rule 12(c) or in the alternative a motion brought under Rule 12(b) (6), matters outside the pleadings have been permitted to be filed and the court will consider the motion or motions as in effect motions for summary judgment under Rule 56 as the Rules provide.

This case presents an unusual situation in that the threshold question is in essence the ultimate question. The Minnesota Statute reads:

“If a foreign corporation makes a contract with a resident of Minnesota * * [Emphasis added]

Defendant here denies that any contract was in fact made; therefore the statute is inapposite for if no contract was made, then by the very terms of the statute, service on the Secretary of State cannot be made. Defendant requests that the court rule now as a matter of law, based on the allegations in the complaint and Exhibit A attached thereto, that no contract existed. Plaintiff has paid defendant a total of some $600,000 for 178 mobile homes it has bought. No complaint is made on account thereof such as breach of warranty or non-performance. Rather plaintiff’s grievance is defendant’s failure to sell plaintiff an additional $400,000 worth of mobile homes, which if bought and paid for would result in certain rebates to plaintiff for those heretofore purchased. It is failure of future performance that forms the basis of plaintiff’s complaint.

Exhibit A referred to above is a four-page letter called “Confirmation of Commitments Made” signed by defendant. Defendant claims that this letter is merely an invitation to contract and in effect nothing more than a price list, albeit personally tailored; that plaintiff did not bind itself to purchase a single mobile home nor not to buy mobile homes from others; that the alleged contract lacks mutuality and fails for want of consideration; that each order placed is itself the offer which defendant may accept or reject as it will; that the alleged agreement does not come within the purview of nor meet the requirements of Minn.Stat. § 336.2-306 d).

The affidavit filed by plaintiff states:

“4. In the latter part of January, 1968, Mr. Stanley F. Raczynski, president of Chickasha Mobile Homes, Inc., and Mr. Joel Gooch personally met in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with myself, my brother and Mr. Jim Prokosch, an employee of Edison. At that meeting, particulars and details concerning the sale of Chickasha Mobile Homes to Edison were thoroughly discussed, outlined and agreed upon. It was at this meeting that certain of the various false representations set forth in plaintiff’s second cause of action were made by representatives of Chickasha. At the conclusion of this meeting, an oral agreement was entered into between Edison and Chickasha for the sale and delivery of Chickasha mobile homes to Edison.”

The court cannot now rule, without hearing evidence before it, on whether the contract was an oral one and Exhibit A serves merely as a memorandum, signed by defendant, sufficient to take the contract out of the statute of frauds; nor can the court rule on the effect, if any, of the parol evidence rule. There may well be, as plaintiff contends, a genuine issue of material [1011]*1011fact. The court cannot state that there is not as a matter of law. Since the court cannot rule at this stage of the proceedings that there is no contract, then for the purpose of applying the Minnesota Statute § 803.13, Subd. 1(3) relative to service of process, the court is bound it would seem to proceed on the theory, if only for this purpose that a contract exists. If defendant wins at the trial and ultimately it is determined that there is and was no contract, then in retrospect the statute as to service of process never became applicable. The situation is circuitous; proof of one is proof of the other; failure to prove one is failure to prove the other. It cannot be resolved now, however, on a motion for summary judgment.

Assuming arguendo that there was a contract made and that defendant has breached the same by refusing to perform, the court has no doubt but that section 303.13, Subd. 1(3) is applicable.

The test to be applied is a two-fold one. The first is whether, as a matter of state law, the statute applies to the given facts. The court believes that the complaint and the affidavit filed by plaintiff show that defendant as a foreign corporation is alleged to have made a contract with plaintiff which was to be performed in part in Minnesota. Hence defendant, under the Single Act statute cited above, is deemed to be doing business in the state and to have appointed the Secretary of State its agent for service of process upon it. The court believes that this is the result the Minnesota Supreme Court would reach on the facts of the case at bar. See e.g. Kalthoff v. Deere and Company, 281 Minn. 210, 161 N.W.2d 313 (1968); Hagberg v. Colonial and Pacific Frigidways, Inc., 279 Minn. 396, 157 N.W.2d 33 (1968); McDermott v. Bremson, 273 Minn. 104, 139 N.W.2d 809 (1966); Paulos v. Best Securities, Inc., 260 Minn. 283, 109 N.W.2d 576 (1961); Dahlberg Company v. Western Hearing Aid Center, Ltd., 259 Minn. 330, 107 N. W.2d 381 (1961).

The second test is whether or not the assumption of jurisdiction offends Federal due process requirements. This, too, is a case by case decision.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
299 F. Supp. 1008, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8603, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/edison-industries-inc-v-chickasha-mobile-homes-inc-mnd-1969.