Family Budget Plan, Inc. v. Ede

9 Pa. D. & C.2d 724, 1955 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 18
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Bucks County
DecidedAugust 5, 1955
Docketno. 383
StatusPublished

This text of 9 Pa. D. & C.2d 724 (Family Budget Plan, Inc. v. Ede) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Bucks County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Family Budget Plan, Inc. v. Ede, 9 Pa. D. & C.2d 724, 1955 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 18 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1955).

Opinion

Eckelberry, J.,

Replevin with bond. Preliminary objections to complaint.

In passing upon preliminary objections, we must accept as true all averments of material and relevant facts in the complaint. Accordingly, we find, at this procedural stage, the facts in this matter to be:

On August 2, 1952, Nash-Ringel, Inc., Albany, New York, as seller, sold a certain food freezer and food plan, under a conditional sales contract, to defendant, James Ede, Sr., as buyer, whose address then was Schenectady, New York.

The conditional sales contract provided as follows:

1. That the deferred balance was to be paid at the office of State Bank of Albany, Albany, New York, in 18 monthly installments; '

2. That “Title to 'said property shall not pass to Buyer until the deferred balance is fully paid”;

3. That “If Buyer defaults in complying with any of the terms hereof . . . Seller may take immediate possession of said property without demand . . .”; arid

[726]*7264. That “Seller’s interest in this contract and the property herein referred to may be assigned and Seller’s assignee shall be entitled to all the rights of Seller hereunder”, and “Buyer agrees that such assignee shall not be liable to Buyer for any failure of Seller to fulfill his obligations to Buyer and that any claim for any such failure will be made against Seller and will not be set up as a cause of action, defense, counterclaim or offset against such assignee”.

On the same day said Nash-Ringel, Inc., for value received, assigned to said State Bank of Albany, all its right, title and interest in and to said conditional sales contract and the equipment covered thereby and authorized the assignee to do every act and thing necessary to collect and discharge the same, and on March 31, 1954, said State Bank of Albany, for value received and at the request of said Nash-Ringel, Inc., assigned to plaintiff herein, Family Budget Plan, Inc., Town of Colonie, Albany County, New York, all its right, title and interest in and to the contract and all claims, demands or causes of action thereunder.

Defendant defaulted, beginning June 2, 1953, in the payment of the monthly installments payable under the contract and by reason thereof plaintiff, under the provisions of the contract, became entitled to the immediate possession of the property.

The pleading containing defendant’s preliminary objections sets forth new averments of facts, in support of certain of the preliminary objections. The pleading was verified by defendant and endorsed with a notice to plead, and, inasmuch as plaintiff failed to deny the averments, plaintiff is deemed to have admitted them.

Accordingly, we find, for the purposes of this decision, the following additional facts: Plaintiff, Family Budget Plan, Inc., is a corporation wholly owned and controlled by Nash-Ringel, Inc., and/or its officers [727]*727or agents; Nash-Ringel, Inc., is not authorized as> a, foreign corporation to do business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and plaintiff, Family Budget Plan, Inc., is not authorized to do business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, nor registered with, the Secretary of the Commonwealth as a foreign, corporation, nor registered under the Fictitious Names Act of May 24, 1945, P. L. 967.

Preliminary Objections Considered

I. Objections numbered 1, 4 and 6 will be considered together, because they severally raise the question of lack of capacity in plaintiff to sue.

The grounds relied upon by defendant are:

1. Inasmuch as plaintiff “appears to be” a corporation and, according to the complaint, is suing upon a contract, plaintiff is not entitled to maintain the action, because it is not authorized to do business in Pennsylvania, nor registered with the Secretary of the Commonwealth as a foreign corporation, nor registered under the Fictitious Names Act of Pennsylvania, nor recognized as a legal entity in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Plaintiff is a corporation because, first, the complaint itself (including the exhibits attached thereto) shows that plaintiff is a corporation, and second, we have found, on defendant’s own averment, that plaintiff is a corporation.

Plaintiff is not suing on the conditional sales contract. In the first place, plaintiff’s claim for relief asks “judgment for the said chattel”, as is proper in an action of replevin (Clark v. Clark, 76 D. & C. 345), and, therefore, plaintiff’s action is one in rem, for the specific recovery of personal property. In the second place, in a replevin action “the sole issue is one of title and right of possession” (Consbigler v. Shawley, 162 Pa. Superior Ct. 642) and plaintiff’s right to assert title to the chattel is not based on [728]*728contract but on the ownership of the chattel: McCray Refrigerator Co. v. Bacso, 79 Pa. Superior Ct. 185, in which the court said, page 188:

“It is a misapprehension to suppose that the contract of lease is the basis of' the plaintiff’s right. It is pleadéd to be sure, but in explanation of the circumstances under which the plaintiff’s property passed into the possession of Bacso and from him to Schultz. The plaintiff’s title, however, existed before the lease was written and was not destroyed by that instrument . . .”

See Lee-Strauss Co. v. Kelly, 292 Pa. 403, in which plaintiff sold defendant certain personal property under a contract of conditional sale, which provided (1) that the purchase price be paid in fixed installments, and (2) that title was to remain in plaintiff until the purchase price shall have been paid in full. Defendant defaulted in her payments and a writ of replevin was issued to recover the goods in possession of defendant. The court held that: “As this was an action of replevin, the question involved is one of title only . . . the defendant cannot assert a set-off . . . nor . . . claim recompense for damages sustained from a breach of warranty or misrepresentation of quality”.

Even though it should be held that plaintiff is suing on the conditional sales contract and even though plaintiff is a foreign corporation not authorized to do business in Pennsylvania, nor registered therein as a foreign corporation, nor registered under the Fictitious Names Act of Pennsylvania, it is entitled to maintain this action.

• The Pennsylvania statute applicable to foreign business corporations, Business Corporation Law of May 5, 1933, P. L. 364, as amended, 15 PS §2852-1001, provides that: “A foreign business corporation, before doing any business in this Commonwealth, shall procure a certificate of authority to do so from the [729]*729Department of State . . and “Any foreign business corporation which is required ... to procure a certificate of authority, but has not done so . . . shall be guilty of a misdemeanor . . .” (Italics supplied.)

Nowhere in this case is there any averment or indication that plaintiff was, at any time, or is now, “doing business” in Pennsylvania within the meaning of the statute, and a foreign corporation, in suing within Pennsylvania to enforce its contract, is restricted only when “doing business” in Pennsylvania: Meaker Galvanizing Co. v. Mclnnes & Co., Inc., 272 Pa. 561, 568; Seeburg Piano Co. v. Wyoming Valley Music Co., 24 Luz. 392; Schoble’s Petition, 43 D. & C. 459, 463-464.

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9 Pa. D. & C.2d 724, 1955 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 18, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/family-budget-plan-inc-v-ede-pactcomplbucks-1955.