Grant v. Cananea Consolidated Copper Co.

117 A.D. 576, 102 N.Y.S. 642, 1907 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 305
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedFebruary 8, 1907
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 117 A.D. 576 (Grant v. Cananea Consolidated Copper Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Grant v. Cananea Consolidated Copper Co., 117 A.D. 576, 102 N.Y.S. 642, 1907 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 305 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1907).

Opinions

Clarke, J.:

This is an appeal from an order of the Special Term denying a motion of the defendant Cananea Consolidated Copper Company for an order vacating the service of the summons upon it through William C. Greene, its president. This is a stockholder’s suit brought by the plaintiff on behalf of all the stockholders of the Cobre Grande Copper Company (an Arizona corporation) similarly situated, for the purpose of procuring a decree adjudging that the Cananea Consolidated Copper Company (a Mexican corporation, hold the legal title to certain mines and' mining properties in the Republic of' Mexico, in trust for the Cobre Grande Company, and of compelling the defendants W. 0. Greene, the Greene Consolidated Copper Company, and the Cananea Consolidated Copper Company to account for and pay over to the defendant Cobre Grande Copper Company all benefits of every kind, if any, derived by them or any of them, fyom any of the said properties, and -of obtaining other like relief. On October 8, 1906, a summons indorsed to William C. Greene, as president of the Cananea Consolidated Copper Company, was handed to William C. Greene, president of the appellant, in New York city. The Cananea Company thereafter appeared specially, and moved that the service of the summons be vacated.

It nowhere appears in the record that the plaintiff is a resident or citizen of this State. The ground of the motion is that the defendant is a foreign corporation ; that it does no business in the State of New York; that it has no office in this State; that it has appointed no agent upon whom service could be made, and that [578]*578the action being in personam the courts .of .this State, under such circumstances, have no jurisdiction over it. Section 432 of the Code provides that “ Personal service of the summons upon a defendant, being a foreign corporation, must be made -by delivering a copy thereof within the State, as follows.: l.-To the president, vice-president, treasurer, assistant treasurer, secretary, or assistant secretary, Or, if the corporation lacks either of those officers, to the officer .performing corresponding functions under another name.”

In Pope v. Terre Haute Car Mfg. Co. (87 N. Y. 137) the Court of Appeals' said, Earl, J., writing the opinion: “ The plaintiffs are -residents of this. State, having a cause of action arising upon contract against the defendant, an Indiana corporation. They caused a summons for the commencement of an action to be served upon the defendant’s president within this State, and it made a motion to set aside such service, on the ground that it was unauthorized and ineffectual for any purpose. * * * It appears that the defendant being a foreign corporation had no place -of business,' and transacted no.business and had no property within this State, and that at the time its president was served he was temporarily within'this State, for purposes of his own, on his- way' to a seaside resort, and not in his official capacity or upon any business of the defendant.” Nevertheless the court held that the service was-a good • service, and declined to set it aside.' That decision was in November, 1881. The Supreme, Court of the United States, however, in a long, series of cases, beginning with Pennoyer v. Neff (95 U. S. 714); St. Clair v. Cox (106 id. 350), and continuing down to Remington v. Central Pacific R. R. Co. (198 id. 95), has declared a contrary doctrine. In Golday v. Morning News (156 U. S. 518), that court decided that service in New York upon-the president of the defendant corporation, a Connecticut concern, temporarily within the State,, was invalid, }t appearing that the defendant corporation was doing, no -business in the State of New York, and ,had no resident agent or property_ therein. The suit had been- commenced in - the Supreme. Court, in the county of Kings, and was removed into the Circuit Court of the United States for the Eastern District of New York. It was decided in 1895, and IVIr. Justice Gray, delivering, the tinanimoiis opinion of the court, said : “ Upon the question of the validity of such a service as was made, in this case, there lias [579]*579been a difference of opinion between the courts of the State' of New York, and the Circuit Courts of the United States. Such a service has been held valid by the Court of Appeals of New York. (Hiller v. Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Co., 70 N. Y. 223; Pope v. Terre Haute Car Mfg. Co., 87 N. Y. 137.) It lias been held invalid by the Circuit Courts of the United States, held within the State of New York (citing a large number of cases.) It becomes necessary, therefore, to consider the question upon principle, and in the light of the previous decisions of this court. It is an elementary principle of jurisprudence, that a court of justice cannot acquire jurisdiction over the person of one who has no residence within its territorial jurisdiction, except by actual service of notice within the jurisdiction upon him, or upon someone authorized to accept service in his behalf, or by his waiver, by general appearance or otherwise, of the want of due service. * * * A judgment rendered in a court of one State against a corporation neither incorporated nor doing business within the State, must be regarded as of no validity in the courts of another State, or of the United States, unless service of process was made in the first State upon an agent appointed to act there for the cor-. poration, and not merely upon an officer or agent residing in another State, and only casually within the State and not charged with any business of the corporation there.” In Conley v. Mathieson Alkali Works (190 U. S. 406), the plaintiff was a citizen of New York and the defendant was incorporated in the State of Virginia. Plaintiff brought an action in the Supreme Court of New York against the defendant for moneys alleged to be due on a contract which.was alleged to have been made in the city of New York. The defendant had designated no agent upon whom service could be made, and summons was served upon two members of the board of directors, both residents of the city of New York. The defendant had been engaged in business and had owned and operated a-manufacturing plant within the State up tó a few months prior to the service. But it had conveyed this plant and all of the property of every kind and description to another corporation organized under the laws of Virginia and had ceased doing business or holding property within the State. It was said : The fact that it held the entire capital stock of the Castner Electrolytic Alkali Company and that the operations of that company were carried on under the [580]*580same management as before December 31, 1900, is not material. The new ,corporation was a separate legal entity and whatever may have been the motives leading to its creation it can only be regarded as such for the purposes of legal proceedings. It was that corporation alone which transacted any business in this átate, notwithstanding it may have been,, for all practical purposes, merely the instrument of the defendant corporation.” The court then reviewed the provisions of the New York Code of Civil. Procedure and reaffirming the doctrine of Goldey v. Morning News (supra), said: “ The principle announced in Goldey v. Morning News

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Bluebook (online)
117 A.D. 576, 102 N.Y.S. 642, 1907 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 305, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grant-v-cananea-consolidated-copper-co-nyappdiv-1907.