Fisher v. Albany MacHine & Supply Co.

246 So. 2d 218
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 2, 1971
Docket8250
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 246 So. 2d 218 (Fisher v. Albany MacHine & Supply Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fisher v. Albany MacHine & Supply Co., 246 So. 2d 218 (La. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

246 So.2d 218 (1971)

James FISHER
v.
ALBANY MACHINE & SUPPLY CO., et al.

No. 8250.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

March 15, 1971.
Rehearing Denied April 19, 1971.
Writ Granted June 2, 1971.

*219 Ronald F. Plaisance and N. A. Danna, Jr., New Orleans, for appellant.

Peter A. Feringa, Jr., of Chaffe, McCall, Phillips, Burke, Toler & Sarpy, New Orleans; John A. Bivins, of Mouton, Roy, Carmouche & Hailey, Lafayette; Paul Cassisa and Walter M. Babst, of Bernard, Michelot & Cassisa, New Orleans, for appellees.

Before LANDRY, ELLIS and BLANCHE, JJ.

LANDRY, Judge.

Individually, and as natural tutrix of her minor children, Beverly Ann Fisher, Irma Dean Fisher, James Worthy Fisher, Jr., and Keith Fisher, plaintiff, Thelma Leonard, widow of James Worthy Fisher, appeals the judgment of the trial court sustaining declinatory exceptions of lack of jurisdiction filed in Suit Number 8250 (a survival action by plaintiff to recover for injuries to her deceased husband) by defendants, Albany Machine & Supply Company *220 (Albany) and Dorris Company (Dorris). In both Suit Number 8250 and companion case Number 8251, 246 So.2d 230 (a wrongful death action brought by plaintiff individually and as natural tutrix to recover for the death of her husband), plaintiff appeals from summary judgments entered in favor of defendant Wagner Electric Corporation. Declinatory exceptions of lack of jurisdiction filed by Albany and Dorris in the wrongful death action (8251) have not yet been disposed of below. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Decedent Fisher instituted Suit Number 8250 (4431 on the docket of the trial court) to recover damages for personal injuries sustained in an accident which occurred September 29, 1965, in the course of his employment by defendant, Terrebonne Lumber and Supply Co., Inc. While working near a machine known as an Albany Trimmer 20 foot Model No. 40WA saw, Serial Number 214, Fisher was struck by a piece of lumber ejected from the device. Fisher died and his wife and children were properly substituted as parties to his action, thereby converting the matter into a survival action. Following Fisher's demise, Suit Number 8251 (Number 4608 on the docket of the lower court) was instituted by the widow to recover for decedent's alleged wrongful death.

Both actions allege in substance that the Albany Trimmer was improperly and unsafely manufactured and that defendants were negligent in failing to warn decedent of dangers inherent in the machine. The named defendants in both actions are: Terrebonne Lumber and Supply Company, Inc. and its alleged successor, Edward Hines Company; Albany (manufacturer of the saw allegedly causing decedent's injury); Wagner (maker of the electric motor which constituted a component of the machine); Dorris (manufacturer of a speed reducing device incorporated in the trimmer); Wilco Machine Works, Inc. (an independent jobber which retailed the saw); Nichols Construction Company (the contractor which installed the Albany Trimmer); various officers and directors of Terrebonne Lumber and Supply Company, and Terrebonne's unnamed insurer and unnamed John Doe.

Albany, an Oregon corporation, and Dorris, a Missouri corporation, contend they are not amenable to the jurisdiction of this state because they are foreign corporations who neither do nor are authorized to do business in this state. Dorris maintains that its only office and place of business is in Missouri; that it has no office, place of business, agent, employee or representative in Louisiana; that it never consented to suit against it in this state; that it did not sell in Louisiana or ship its speed reducers into this state, and that the speed reducer in question was sold to the Alfred Halliday Company of Louisville, Kentucky. Dorris also objected to the manner in which it was served with process.

The exceptions filed by Albany and Dorris were heard April 13, 1967, submitted on memoranda and taken under advisement. On June 15, 1967, the trial court entered judgment sustaining the exceptions filed by Albany and Dorris. Formal judgments sustaining said exceptions were signed on October 13, 1967, in the case of Albany and on December 11, 1967 in the case of Dorris. No notice of said judgments was given appellant. On December 14, 1967, appellant applied for a rehearing which was denied by formal judgment rendered May 21, 1970. On June 4, 1970, plaintiff appealed both the judgments sustaining defendants' exceptions and the decree denying her application for rehearing on the ground of newly discovered evidence. On June 10, 1970, summary judgment was granted in favor of Wagner. Said judgment was appealed that same day.

We preface our analysis of the facts by noting that appellant attaches to her brief various documents which were not introduced of record in the court below. In this respect we note, among other things, answers to interrogatories propounded *221 to H. J. Mire, General Manager, Terrebonne, and the deposition of one T. B. Lawrason, Jr., taken at the instance of defendant, Nichols Construction Corporation. In disposing of the issues before us, we disregard the above mentioned answers to interrogatories and deposition, as well as all other documents which were not introduced in the trial below. Albany's and Dorris' exceptions must be determined in the light of the evidence properly adduced in the trial court.

An affidavit of Albany's Secretary-Treasurer, Rene E. Fritz, Jr., asserts that Albany did not sell, ship or deliver the trimmer in or to Louisiana. Albany maintains it sold the saw in question to Wilco Machine Works, Inc. and shipped same to Wilco in Memphis, Tennessee. Albany acknowledges that it sells a complete line of saw mill machinery over the entire United States but operates in the deep south only through independent jobbers. Additionally, Albany notes that Wilco is the only jobber selling Albany's products in Louisiana. Finally, Albany concedes that in about February, 1966, its agent, Fritz, visited Terrebonne in Louisiana as a consultant on repairing the machinery in question.

Terrebonne answered interrogatories propounded by appellant admitting Terrebonne ordered an Albany Trimmer and head rig from Wilco of Memphis, Tennessee, on February 8, 1965, delivery thereof being received March 26, 1965. Terrebonne likewise observed that it understood Wilco to be a supplier of Albany Products.

In response to interrogatories propounded by plaintiff, Wilco stated that it functions as sales representative for manufacturers of woodworking machinery and, in such capacity, represents Albany. Wilco also related that the sale to Terrebonne was the only sale of Albany products in Louisiana, and that the equipment ordered from Albany is sent directly from Albany, Oregon to the purchaser. Additionally, Wilco acknowledged that on one occasion it displayed Albany's products at a Southern Pine Machinery and Equipment Show in Louisiana pursuant to an arrangement whereby Albany defrayed shipping costs and Wilco assumed the cost for personnel and display space. Wilco also stated that it solicits sales for Albany but that Albany services the equipment it sells.

Concerning Dorris, its Treasurer, Duncan K. Dorris, deposed that the speed reducer made by Dorris and incorporated into the trimmer was initially sold to the Alfred Halliday Company, Louisville, Kentucky.

Appellant maintains Louisiana has jurisdiction over Albany and Dorris by virtue of our "Long Arm Statute", LSA-R.S. 13:3201(b) and (d), and 13:3471(1):

LSA-R.S. 13:3201, in pertinent part, states:

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Bluebook (online)
246 So. 2d 218, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fisher-v-albany-machine-supply-co-lactapp-1971.