Farmers' & Merchants' Bank v. Federal Reserve Bank

286 F. 566, 1922 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1112
District Court, E.D. Kentucky·Decided October 14, 1922·Published·Cited by 25 cases

Opinion

COCHRAN, District Judge.

This cause is before me on the defendant bank’s motion to quash the service of process upon it, on the ground that it is a national corporation, and was not, at the time of such service, doing business in this state, as required, in order to subject it to suit therein. It is the Federal Reserve Bank of the Fourth District of the Federal Reserve System, and its offices are at Cleveland, Ohio. That which is complained of in the hill is certain wrongful conduct taking place, in the main, at Catlettsburg in this district. That consists in the presentation and demand of payment over the counter [567] in cash of checks drawn on plaintiff, a state bank doing business at Catlettsburg, by its depositors in favor of persons at a distance, which came into the defendant’s hands for collection. The cause of action is the same as that involved in the cases of American Bank & Trust Co. v. Federal Reserve Bank (C. C. A.) 269 Fed. 4; American Bank & Trust Co. v. Federal Reserve Bank, 256 U. S. 350, 41 Sup. Ct. 499, 65 L. Ed. 983; Brookings State Bank v. Federal Reserve Bank (D. C.) 277 Fed. 430.

The individual defendant, Mary B. McCall, a resident of that city, is the agent of the defendant, and it is through her as such agent that such presentation and demand was being made; such checks being sent by it to her by mail for that purpose. Not otherwise was the defendant bank doing business in this state when the suit was brought. The process herein as to such defendant was served on Miss McCall as its agent. The suit was originally brought in the state court, in whose territorial jurisdiction Catlettsburg is situated, and was removed thence to this court upon the joint petition of the defendants upon the ground that it arose under the Constitution and laws of the United States. It is the contention of the defendant bank that the question of jurisdiction is the same as if it were a state corporation, foreign to this state, and not a national corporation. I will dispose of the question on the assumption that this contention is sound.

It is conceded, as it must be, that, at the time this suit was brought, the individual defendant was acting for the defendant bank, as its agent, and had been so acting for it for over a year and a half before the suit was brought. The defendant bank’s position is that the doing of business in this state of a particular character, at the time suit was brought, was essential to jurisdiction, and that such action on its behalf did not constitute the doing of business of that character. As to whether this position is sound is the question before me. In determining it I will confine myself to the cases in the Supreme Court of the

In the case of Peterson v. C., R. I. & P. R. R. Co., 205 U. S. 364, 27 Sup. Ct. 513, 51 L. Ed. 841, which involved a suit against a railroad corporation in a foreign jurisdiction, that court, in its opinion, set forth the essentials of jurisdiction in these words:

“This case presents a question of jurisdiction to be determined as one of fact. It may be divided into two propositions: First. Was the Pacific Company doing business in the state of Texas? Secondly. If so, were the alleged agents served with process in the state of Texas duly authorized as such and competent to be thus served, in such wise as to give jurisdiction of the Pacific Company?”

In so far as this statement is concerned, the doing of any business in the foreign jurisdiction will meet the first requirement. But such is not the casé. The doing of any business, no matter what its character is, will not meet it. It must be of a particular character to do so. This appears from the opinion in the case of Green v. C., B. & Q. R. R. Co., 205 U. S. 530, 27 Sup. Ct. 595, 51 L. Ed. 916, argued and submitted the same day the Peterson Case was decided. That was an action in the federal court for the Eastern district of Pennsylvania against [568] an Iowa railroad corporation whose line of railroad ran westward from Chicago through the state of Colorado. It was to recover damages for personal injuries received along its line in Colorado. The corporation maintained an office in Philadelphia and had in charge thereof a district freight and passenger agent, who had under him several clerks and various traveling passenger and freight agents. It advertised this in many ways to the public. The husiness of this agent was to solicit and procure passengers and freight to be transported over its lines. In cases of passengers he purchased for them a ticket over one of the railroads running west from Philadelphia to Chicago and sold to them prepaid orders, which gave them the right, on their arrival at Chicago, to receive from the corporation tickets over its road, for cash paid him. He also sold, occasionally, to railroad employees, who already had tickets over intermediate lines, orders for reduced rates over its lines. As to freight he sold nothing and'received no payments for the trans-portation thereof, but, 'for the convenience of shippers who had obtained bills of lading from the initial line for goods routed over its lines, he gave in exchange therefor bills of lading over its lines, which provided that they should not be in force until the freight had been actually received by it. The process had been served on this agent. Notwithstanding the extensive character of the business transacted on the defendant corporation’s behalf in Philadelphia, jurisdiction was denied. The opinion is quite brief. It contains little, if any, argumentation. It is confined largely to stating the facts and conclusions reached. Concerning the business so done in Philadelphia it is said:

“It'is obvious that the defendant was doing there a considerable business of a certain kind, although there was no carriage of freight or passengers.”

Again:

“The business shown in this case was in substance nothing more than that of solicitation.”

The conclusion-reached was thus stated:

“Without undertaking to formulate any general rule defining what transactions will constitute ‘doing business’ "in the sense that- liability to service is incurred, we think that this [i. e., solicitation] is not enough to bring the defendant within the district so that process can be served upon it.”

I would suggest that the statement that the business transacted by the agent was in suhstance nothing more than solicitation was hardly correct, and that what the agent did went beyond mere solicitation. He purchased tickets over intermediate lines for passengers and sold them prepaid orders over the corporation’s lines and received the cash therefor. He also sold for cash to railroad employees, who already had tickets over such lines, such orders at reduced rates; and as to freight he issued bills of lading over the corporation’s line.

The test for determining whether the doing of business in a state is sufficient to give jurisdiction, if service of process has been had on an authorized agent, was put in this way:

“Its validity depends upon whether the corporation was doing business in^ that district in such a manner and to such an extent as to warrant the in-” ference- that through its agents it was present there.”

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Farmers' & Merchants' Bank v. Federal Reserve Bank, 286 F. 566, 1922 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1112 (E.D. Ky. 1922).

286 F. 566 (Farmers' & Merchants' Bank v. Federal Reserve Bank) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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