Gude v. Dakota Fire & Marine Insurance

65 N.W. 27, 7 S.D. 644, 1895 S.D. LEXIS 126
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 1, 1895
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 65 N.W. 27 (Gude v. Dakota Fire & Marine Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gude v. Dakota Fire & Marine Insurance, 65 N.W. 27, 7 S.D. 644, 1895 S.D. LEXIS 126 (S.D. 1895).

Opinion

CORSON, P. J.

This was an action npo'n a judgment rendered by default in the state of Minnesota. The complaint is in the usual form. The defendant answered, and after denying the allegations of the complaint, except the due incorporation of the defendant under the laws of this state, alleged, in substance, that, when the proceedings in the said action were commenced and the judgment rendered, the defendant was not served with process in said action, and had no notice of the pendency of the same, and that it had no agent in the state of Minnesota upon whom summons could be served. The case was tried by the court without a jury, and the findings of fact, conclusions of law, and judgment were in favor of the plaintiff. A motion for a new trial was made and denied, and the defendant appeals.

The appellant, an insurance company incorporated under the laws of this state, and having its principal place of business at Mitchell, in this state, issued a policy of insurance to the plaintiffs, upon an elevator and personal property therein, situated in the city of Duluth, state of Minnesota, insuring them against loss by fire. The property having been destroyed by fire, the respondents Gude Bros., instituted an action in the district court of the county of St. Louis, in the state of Minnesota, upon the policy so issued, and recovered the judgment sued upon in this action. No answer was filed or served by defendant in that action, and there was no appearance by any one on its behalf. Upon the trial of this action the plaintiff offered in evidence a duly certified copy of the judgment roll filed in the district court of St. Louis county, in the state of Minnesota, which was objected to on the following grounds: “Defendant objects to the introduction of the papers named and offered in evidence, for the reasons: First, that it does not appear from the complaint upon which said judgment was based that the [647]*647defendant was at tbe time said action was commenced doing business in tbe state of Minnesota; second, it nowhere appears in said complaint that tbe said defendant was at any time doing business in tbe state of Minnesota; third, it further appears in said judgment roll that no personal service was made upon said defendant, or upon any of tbe officers thereof, or upon any manager or agent thereof within the state of Minnesota; fourth, that it further appears from the complaint in the action upon which said judgment was obtained that the said defendant was a foreign corporation.” The objection was overruled, and the defendant excepted, and the ruling of the court is assigned as error. This ruling of the court, in our • opinion, was correct. The plaintiffs allege in their complaint that the district court in which said judgment was rendered was a court of general jurisdiction, and that the “summons, together with a copy of the complaint in said action, was * * * duly and personally served on the above named defendant in said action.” These allegations in the complaint were sufficient to admit the certified copy of the judgment roll in evidence. The ultimate facts that the court in which the judgment was rendered was a court of general jurisdiction, and that the summons and a copy of the complaint were duly and personally served upon the defendant, were all that it was necessary to allege in the complaint. The probative facts requisite to prove these ultimate facts were matters of evidence, and were not required to be set out in the complaint. The recitals in the judgment and accompanying affidavits were prima facie evidence, at least, of the facts giving the court jurisdiction. D’Arcy v. Ketchum, 11 How. 165; Insurance Co. v. French, 18 How. 404; St. Clair v. Cox, 106 U. S. 350, 1 Sup. Ct. 354.

The learned circuit court made and filed his findings of fact in the case at bar, the material parts of which are as follows: “(3) That on the 9th day of September, 1891, the said defendant * * * was, and for some time'prior thereto had been, transacting insurance business in the state of Minnesota; that on the 9th day of September, 1891, in consideration of the payment by plaintiffs to [648]*648defendant of the premium of $30, the said defendant duly made, executed, and delivered to plaintiff its certain policy of insurance No. 19,423, upon the property of the plaintiff, situated in said Duluth, in said state of Minnesota; that said insurance was solicited of the plaintiffs, for and on behalf of said defendant, * * * by William O. Tillotson, acting as the agent of and for and on behalf of said defendant insurance company at said Duluth, and who delivered the policy of insurance to the plaintiffs, and who collected and received the premium therefor, and transmitted the same to the defendant at said Mitchell, in the state of South Dakota, and such premium was received and accepted by said defendant. And * * * which said summons, together with the plaintiff’s complaint in said action, was thereafter, and on the 7th day of March, 1892. at the city of Duluth, in said St. Louis county and state of Minnesota, duly and personally served upon the above named defendant in said action, the Dakota Fire & Marine Insurance Company, by delivering to and leaving with the said William O. Tillotson, being the same person mentioned in finding No, 3, true and correct copies of said summons and complaint.” The learned counsel for the appellant contend that these findings are not supported by the evidence; but, as we fail to discover in the record any specifications of the particulars in which such evidence is claimed to be insufficient to support the findings, we are compelled to disregard this assignment of error, and hold that the findings are conclusive upon this court. Assuming, then, that the findings of the court are correct, we shall not discuss the evidence.

The counsel for the appellant contend that the service upon said Tillotson was not such a service as gave that court jurisdiction to render a judgment binding upon the courts of this state: (1) Because it does not affirmatively appear from the record in that action, nor in the findings of the court in the case at bar, that the defendant was doing business in that state at the time this action was commenced; and (2) because the service- made was not upon an agent of the defendant authorized to do any act binding upon the defendant, other than soliciting insurance in its behalf, [649]*649and that service upon such an agent is not sufficient to give tbe court jurisdiction. The counsel for tbe respondents contends that, as the service made as found by the court conformed strictly with, the requirements of the laws of Minnesota, the judgment is valid in that state, and that it is therefore entitled to have given to it the same faith and credit in this state that is given to it in the state where rendered. We are inclined to the opinion' that the proposition of respondents’ counsel is correct when applied to foreign corporations doing business in a state.

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Bluebook (online)
65 N.W. 27, 7 S.D. 644, 1895 S.D. LEXIS 126, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gude-v-dakota-fire-marine-insurance-sd-1895.