Epps v. Golden

295 F. Supp. 520, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7681
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. North Carolina
DecidedSeptember 12, 1968
DocketCiv. A. No. 2280
StatusPublished

This text of 295 F. Supp. 520 (Epps v. Golden) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Epps v. Golden, 295 F. Supp. 520, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7681 (W.D.N.C. 1968).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

WOODROW WILSON JONES, Chief Judge.

This is an action for damages arising out of an alleged libel contained in a book entitled, “A Little Girl Is Dead”, written by the defendant, Harry Golden, and published by the defendant, The Hearst Corporation. The plaintiff is a resident citizen of the State of Georgia; the defendant, Golden, is a resident citizen of Mecklenburg. County, North Carolina, and the corporate defendant is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in New York City, and has not procured a certificate of authority from the Secretary of State to do business in the State of North Carolina, and has not appointed any process agent in said State.

Plaintiff instituted this action in the Federal District Court for the Western District of North Carolina serving the defendant, Golden, personally, and serving the corporate defendant under the provisions of North Carolina General Statutes § 55-146 as authorized under North Carolina General Statutes § 55-144. The corporate defendant filed Motion to Dismiss under Rule 12, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, for lack of jurisdiction over the person of the defendant, The Hearst Corporation.

After hearing oral arguments presented by counsel, and after a close examination of the depositions, answers to interrogatories, and briefs filed herein, the Court finds the following facts:

That The Hearst Corporation is engaged in the business of publishing and selling books and some 26 different magazines on a nationwide basis, all of which are published outside of North Carolina. The evidence discloses that Hearst has no publishing house, office, property or agent in the State of North Carolina. Books and magazines are sold by Hearst to eleven (11) wholesale and thirty-seven (37) retail dealers in North Carolina upon orders received by mail and delivery is made to common carriers at the Company’s offices or warehouses outside of the State, with title thereto passing to the purchaser upon delivery to the carrier. None of these sales are made upon consignment or in any manner whereby the Company retains title or any security interest therein. All advertisement carried in Hearst publications for North Carolina firms is received and accepted at one of its offices outside of the State. ■ Payment for the advertisement and for the sale of the books and magazines is made by mail to Hearst’s offices outside of the State and no person is authorized to collect money for the Company in North Carolina.

The wholesale and retail dealers in North Carolina are independent business concerns and Hearst has no financial interest in said businesses and has no control over these operations.

The Company has an employee residing in Danville, Virginia, who designates himself as a Sales Representativé, who assists in promoting sales of books and magazines in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. He calls upon the wholesale dealers and checks sales and reports to the division office in Atlanta — he is not authorized to collect money from the dealers. He estimates that he spends about 40 per cent of his time in North Carolina calling on wholesale dealers. Hearst has another employee who resides in Richmond, Virginia, and who makes one trip each year to call upon the wholesale dealers in the Elizabeth City, North Carolina, area, and performs the same promotion duties there as performed in other parts of North Carolina by the Danville, Virginia, representative. The Company has a Division Sales Manager who resides in Georgia and is in charge [522]*522of sales for Hearst in fifteen (15) Southeastern states, including North Carolina. He has visited North Carolina only twice in nine (9) years and on one of these occasions it was to attend a convention of wholesale dealers. His duties consist entirely of promotion of sales for books and magazines for his company.

Hearst acquired the right to publish the book containing the alleged libel in paper-back edition from the World Publishing Company by a contract made outside of the State of North Carolina and after said book had been originally published in hardback edition by the said World Publishing Company. The evidence discloses that the paper-back book was published by the Avon Division of The Hearst Corporation and was printed and distributed by Hall Printing Company, of Chicago, Illinois, on or about February 1, 1967, and that all copies of said book which eventually were distributed in North Carolina were delivered to common carriers in Chicago, New York, or other points outside of the State of North Carolina. Books of all kinds shipped into the State of North Carolina during the year 1967 by Hearst represented 1.40 per cent of the total books shipped by said corporation during that year, and that the magazines shipped to the State during said year represented 1.21 per cent of the total circulation of said magazines.

Since the plaintiff is a non-resident of the State of North Carolina, G. S. § 55-145 has no application to this case. Abney Mills v. Tri-State Motor Transit Co., 268 N.C. 313, 150 S.E.2d 585 (1966). Thus the service of summons for The Hearst Corporation upon the Secretary of State of North Carolina would not give this court in personam jurisdiction over said defendant unless this action falls within the provisions and limitations of G.S. § 55-144, which reads as follows:

“Whenever a foreign corporation shall transact business in this State without first procuring a certificate of authority so to do from the Secretary of State or after its certificate of authority shall have been withdrawn, suspended, or revoked, then the Secretary of State shall be an agent of such corporation upon whom any process, notice, or demand in any suit upon a cause of action arising out of such business may be served.”

There are three conditions precedent to valid service under this section, namely: (1) the foreign corporation must transact business in this State; (2) the foreign corporation must transact business in this State without first procuring a certificate of authority from the Secretary of State; and (3) there must be a cause of action arising out of such business.

It is admitted that Hearst is a foreign corporation and has not procured a certificate of authority from the Secretary of State to operate in North Carolina, thus leaving only the questions for resolution of whether Hearst transacted business in North Carolina, and, if so, does the alleged cause of action arise out of such business. Abney Mills v. Tri-State Motor Transit Co., 265 N.C. 61, 143 S.E.2d 235 (1965).

We now turn to the decisions of the Supreme Court of North Carolina to determine what constitutes “transacting business in this State”. In the case of Putnam v. Triangle Publications, Inc., 245 N.C. 432, 96 S.E.2d 445 (1956), we have a factual situation somewhat similar to the facts of the case at bar.

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Related

International Shoe Co. v. Washington
326 U.S. 310 (Supreme Court, 1945)
Putnam v. Triangle Publications, Inc.
96 S.E.2d 445 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1957)
Abney Mills v. Tri-State Motor Transit Company
143 S.E.2d 235 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1965)
Mills v. Tri-State Motor Transit Company
150 S.E.2d 585 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1966)
Worley's Beverages, Inc. v. Bubble Up Corporation
167 F. Supp. 498 (E.D. North Carolina, 1958)
Golino v. Curtis Publishing Co.
248 F. Supp. 576 (E.D. Louisiana, 1965)

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Bluebook (online)
295 F. Supp. 520, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7681, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/epps-v-golden-ncwd-1968.