Elliott v. Cabeen

224 F. Supp. 50, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6408
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedNovember 8, 1963
DocketCiv. A. No. 7919
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 224 F. Supp. 50 (Elliott v. Cabeen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Elliott v. Cabeen, 224 F. Supp. 50, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6408 (D. Colo. 1963).

Opinion

ARRAJ, Chief Judge.

This matter is before the Court on defendant’s Motion to Dismiss or, in lieu thereof, to set aside service of process on the grounds that defendant, as a resident of the State of California, is not subject to service of process within the District of Colorado and that he has not been properly served with process in this action. The additional grounds urged by defendant need not be considered here in view of the disposition we make of this case.

Suit is based on an alleged oral contract by virtue of which plaintiff agreed to work as a land man for defendant. Plaintiff is a citizen of Colorado, and defendant, a citizen of California; the requisite jurisdictional amount is alleged.

Service of process was first made on one Ann Chalk, who, plaintiff’s affidavit states, is a receptionist in the Denver offices of defendant. After defendant moved to dismiss the action or to set aside service on the grounds that it did not constitute proper service on defendant, plaintiff obtained an alias summons which was served on one Julia Hoss, who, [51]*51plaintiff’s affidavit states, is the secretary of the Land Department of plaintiff and in that capacity acts as stenographer for defendant. Defendant again moved to dismiss the action or, in lieu thereof, to set aside the alias service of process on grounds identical to those set out in its first motion. Defendant also filed affidavits controverting the status of Miss Chalk and Miss Hoss.1

Defendant’s motions are in essence predicated on the basis that neither of the two parties served are proper parties for purposes of substituted service so as to subject defendant to the jurisdiction of this Court. Plaintiff, on the other hand, contends that the service was proper, relying on Rule 4(d) of the Federal' Rules of Civil Procedure which provides for service upon individuals “in the manner prescribed by the law of the state in which the district court is held.” 2 In plaintiff’s view the applicable Colorado law is Rule 4(e) of the Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure, the pertinent portion of which is set out below:

“e. Personal Service in State. Personal service within the state shall be as follows:
“(1) Upon a natural person over the age of 18 years, by delivering a copy thereof to him, or by leaving a copy at his usual place of abode, with some member of his family over the age of 18 years, or at his usual place of business, with his stenographer, bookkeeper, or chief clerk; or by delivering a copy to an agent authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process.”

He argues that the facts of this ease fit the rule inasmuch as his affidavit proves that defendant’s usual place of business is in Colorado, that Martin v. District Court, 375 P.2d 105 (Colo.1962) holds that the position of secretary is synonymous with stenographer for purposes of Rule 4(e) (1), and that therefore service upon Julia Hoss, allegedly a “secretary of defendant” constituted proper service upon defendant under the rule. Defendant controverts these arguments.

In our view of this case, we deem it unnecessary to resolve the points in controversy as set out above, for we find plaintiff’s arguments based on an assumption we are unable to accept. That assumption is set out in his memorandum brief as follows: “There can be no question that under the Colorado Rule 4, service can be made on a non-resident individual as well as a resident individual at [52]*52his usual place of business.” He cites no authority for this general proposition, and we can find none. The issue appears to us to be one of first impression in this jurisdiction,3 and since we find it one of some significance, a somewhat extensive treatment of it seems desirable. The difficulty involved in this quite basic, almost elementary, question is perhaps indicated by the fact that neither plaintiff nor defendant has touched it directly in their briefs.

At the outset we note that the subject of the in personam jurisdiction of the courts, with which we are concerned here, has been immensely broadened within recent years. Even a cursory examination of the clear evolution that ranges from Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U.S. 714, 24 L.Ed. 565 (1878) through International Shoe Co. v. State of Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945) to McGee v. International Life Insurance Co., 355 U.S. 220, 78 S.Ct. 199, 2 L.Ed.2d 223 (1957) (to name only the most important of the landmark cases on the subject) reveals the broad “new enclave” 4 opened to the courts in this area. This development, as might be expected, has given rise to an abundance of commentary and legislation,5 and the Reporter Systems are so replete with cases on the subject that any attempt to enumerate them in a wholesale fashion seems fruitless. Faced with such an embarrassing array of riches in the form of recent authorities, we consider it appropriate to begin with basic principles before assessing them.

One of the most elementary of legal principles is that a basis of jurisdiction must exist before a court has competence to act.6 Two tests are applied in determining whether a basis exists. The first is the inquiry whether legislative jurisdiction exists — does the state have power to declare that its courts have jurisdiction over a particular subject matter? The second is whether judicial jurisdiction exists, a determination made on the basis of a twofold test: (1) Assuming that legislative jurisdiction exists, has the state exercised it by providing the courts with a method for acquiring jurisdiction? (2) If a method has been so provided, are there sufficient jurisdictional facts to satisfy the requirements of the method provided ? 7

In our view, the decisive question in this case is whether the State of Colorado has exercised the legislative jurisdiction which we assume, arguendo, it has, [53]*53to subject a non-resident natural person doing business in Colorado to the in personam jurisdiction of the Court by means of substituted service of process. Plaintiif, on the one hand, assumes that Colorado has provided a means of substituted service over such an individual and argues that defendant’s contacts with Colorado are substantial enough to subject him to state jurisdiction without offending due process.8 Defendant, on the other hand, contends that his allegedly minimum contacts with the state are not enough to sustain jurisdiction and that it would be fundamentally unfair, in any event, for Colorado to provide for substituted service on such an individual as is involved here.9 Neither party has phrased his contentions in terms of the issue which we consider decisive. As argued, the issues raised by the parties take on both a constitutional and a non-constitutional flavor. On the one hand, they rest in the sphere of legislative jurisdiction which is concerned with the “permissible range of application of the law * * * [and] largely falls within the area of constitutional law,” 10

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Related

Worland v. Worland
551 P.2d 981 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1976)
George v. Lewis
228 F. Supp. 725 (D. Colorado, 1964)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
224 F. Supp. 50, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6408, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/elliott-v-cabeen-cod-1963.