Goldrick v. D. M. Picton Co.

56 F.R.D. 639, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11988
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedAugust 19, 1971
DocketCiv. A. No. 195-71-N
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 56 F.R.D. 639 (Goldrick v. D. M. Picton Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Goldrick v. D. M. Picton Co., 56 F.R.D. 639, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11988 (E.D. Va. 1971).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

KELLAM, District Judge.

Plaintiff, a member of the crew of the SS PORT ARTHUR, owned and operated by D. M. Picton Company, asserts he was injured aboard the defendant’s ves[640]*640sel on or about August 11, 1970. Service of process was obtained by serving the State Corporation Commission of Virginia. Defendant moves to quash and vacate such service upon the ground that defendant is a foreign corporation with offices in Texas, that it is not doing business in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and that the cause of action did not arise out of any business done in the Commonwealth.

The facts are not in dispute. Defendant is a wholly owned subsidiary of Moran Towing Corporation (Moran). Neither defendant nor Moran has qualified to do business in Virginia. However, for the purpose of the defendant’s motion, it stipulated that Moran was in fact transacting business in Virginia. Defendant was not doing or transacting any business in Virginia.1 Crew for the tug PORT ARTHUR is supplied by the Seaman’s International Union, with crew members being furnished by the Union on a demand basis at ports up and down the coast.

It was stated at the time of argument on the motion that plaintiff is a resident of Virginia.

Counsel agree that the issues are:

1. Is defendant doing business in Virginia because its parent company (also a foreign coi'poration) is doing business in Virginia?
2. Does the fact that Seaman’s International Union furnishes crewmen for defendant’s tug—some of whom come from the Union Hall at Norfolk —constitute doing business in Virginia?

It is not suggested that there is no real distinction between Moran and defendant, its wholly owned subsidiary. Nor is it suggested that the separate entity is not fully observed. It is not suggested that any of the officers or directors of the two corporations are the same.

The Court must have jurisdiction in personam of the defendant in order to entertain this action and render judgment. Unless it be waived, jurisdiction in personam requires valid service of process within the territorial limits of Virginia. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 4(f). While § 8-60 of the Code of Virginia provides for service on a foreign corporation, and § 13.1-111 of the same Code provides how such process may be served, it is required both by Virginia and Federal law that the corporation be doing business or transacting affairs in Virginia under the facts of this case to constitute valid service. International Shoe Co. v. State of Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95. But, here, counsel agree the issue is whether the fact Moran, the parent company, is doing business in Virginia permits service on defendant.

The leading case in the United States dealing with the issue of service of process as between parent company and subsidiary is Cannon Mfg. Co. v. Cudahy Packing Co., 267 U.S. 333, 45 S.Ct. 250, 69 L.Ed. 634 (1925). There, plaintiff Cannon, a North Carolina corporation, had a contract with the parent, Cudahy Packing Co., a Maine corporation. It brought suit in North Carolina against the parent corporation and served the statutory agent of Cudahy of Alabama, a wholly owned subsidiary. In affirming a judgment dismissing the action for want of jurisdiction, the Court, in part, said:

The main question for decision is whether, at the time of the service of process, defendant was doing business within the State in such a manner and to such an extent as to warrant the inference that it was present there. Bank of America v. Whitney Central National Bank, 261 U.S. 171 [, 43 S.Ct. 311, 67 L.Ed. 594]. In order to [641]*641show that it was, the plaintiff undertook to establish identity pro hac vice between the defendant and the Alabama corporation. The Alabama corporation, which has an office in North Carolina, is the instrumentality employed to market Cudahy products within the State; but it does not do so as defendant’s agent. It buys from the defendant and sells to dealers. In fulfilment of such contracts to sell, goods packed by the defendant in Iowa are shipped direct to dealers; and from them the Alabama corporation collects the purchase price. Through ownership of the entire capital stock and otherwise, the defendant dominates the Alabama corporation, immediately and completely; and exerts its control both commercially and financially in substantially the same way, and mainly through the same individuals, as it does over those selling branches or departments of its business not separately incorporated which are established to market the Cudahy products in other states. The existence of the Alabama company as a distinct corporate entity is, however, in all respects observed. Its books are kept separate. All transactions between the two corporations are represented by appropriate entries in their respective books in the same way as if the two were wholly independent corporations. This corporate separation from the general Cudahy business was doubtless adopted solely to secure to the defendant some advantage under the local laws.
* *****
The defendant wanted to have business transactions with persons resident in North Carolina, but for reasons satisfactory to itself did not choose to enter the State in its corporate capacity. It might have conducted such business through an independent agency without subjecting itself to the jurisdiction. Bank of America v. Whitney Central National Bank, 261 U.S. 171 [, 43 S.Ct. 311, 67 L.Ed. 594]. It preferred to employ a subsidiary corporation. Congress has not provided that a corporation of one State shall be amenable to suit in the federal court for another state in which the plaintiff resides, whenever it employs a subsidiary corporation as the instrumentality for doing business therein. Compare Lumiere v. Mae Edna Wilder, Inc., 261 U.S. 174, 177- [178, 43 S.Ct. 312, 67 L.Ed. 596]. That such use of a subsidiary does not necessarily subject the parent corporation to the jurisdiction was settled by Conley v. Mathieson Alkali Works, 190 U.S. 406, 409- [411, 23 S.Ct. 728, 47 L.Ed. 1113]; Peterson v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Ry. Co., 205 U.S. 364 [27 S.Ct. 513, 51 L.Ed. 841]; and People’s Tobacco Co., Ltd. v. American Tobacco Co., 246 U.S. 79, 87 [, 38 S.Ct. 233, 62 L.Ed. 587]. In the case at bar, the identity of interest may have been more complete and the exercise of control over the subsidiary more intimate than in the three cases cited, but that fact has, in the absence of an applicable statute, no legal significance. The corporate separation, though perhaps merely formal, was real.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
56 F.R.D. 639, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11988, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goldrick-v-d-m-picton-co-vaed-1971.