International Harvester Co. v. Commonwealth

145 S.W. 393, 147 Ky. 655, 1912 Ky. LEXIS 327
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedApril 10, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 145 S.W. 393 (International Harvester Co. v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
International Harvester Co. v. Commonwealth, 145 S.W. 393, 147 Ky. 655, 1912 Ky. LEXIS 327 (Ky. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinion

[657]*657Opinion op the Court by

Judge Miller —

Affirming.

At the October Term, 1911, of the Breckinridge Circuit Court, the Grand Jury returned an indictment against the International Harvester Company of America, under section 3915 of the Kentucky Statutes, as amended March 26, 1906, charging it with being a member of a pool, trust or combination with other companies, for the- purpose of regulating and controlling the price of harvesting machinery and to enhance the cost thereof above its reasonable value.

Process having issued upon the indictment, it was executed in the manner indicated by the return thereon, which reads as follows:

“Executed the within summons by delivering a true copy of the same to O. L. Pace, chief officer and managing agent of the International Harvester Company of America found in Breckinridge County, Kentucky, its president and vice president, secretary, librarian, cashier, treasurer and clerk, being absent from said county. February 2, 1912.

“Dennis Sheeran, S. B. C.

“By A. T. Beard, D. S.”

On February 14,1912, the appellant entered a special appearance for that purpose only, and moved the court to quash the return upon the process, upon the grounds recited in the motion, that it was a Wisconsin corporation; that it was not carrying on any business in Kentucky at the time the process was served; that O. L. Pace was not its officer or agent of any description; that to proceed upon said service would be in violation of the law of Kentucky, and of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, because it did not constitute due process of law; and also that it was in violation of the interstate commerce clause of the Federal Constitution.

Upon the hearing of the motion, appellant read the affidavits of O. L. Pace, J. L. Gardner and William Browning; while the Commonwealth read the affidavits of J. B. Layman and C. M. Schupp, with certain exhibits, and introduced M. D. Beard, who testified orally. The proof upon the part of the Harvester Company shows, in substance, that it was carrying on business in Kentucky in the usual way, until sometime in October, 1911; and, pursuant to section 571 of the Kentucky [658]*658Statutes, it had appointed J. L. Gardner as its agent upon whom process could he served; that it had ceased to do business in Kentucky, and had not done business therein since sometime prior to November 1, 1911; that on October 28, 1911, it . had revoked the authority of Gardner to receive process for it, by filing a formal revocation in the office of the Secretary of State; that Pace, the person upon whom the process was served, had formerly been employed by the appellant as a “block-man,” with authority to transact certain business for the Harvester Company in Kentucky; that prior to November 1, 1911, the Harvested Company had removed all of its property and business office from the State of Kentucky to New Albany, Indiana, and had revoked the authority of all its agents, including Pace; that since that time its only transaction with the people of Kentucky had been the soliciting of proposals for its harvesting machines by means of traveling solicitors, Pace being one of them; that these traveling solicitors had no authority to bind the company in any way, but they merely took orders from proposed customers, and that these orders were of no validity until accepted by the company at a point outside of the State, and when so accepted the goods thus sold were shipped to Kentucky from a point outside of the State, where the title passed to the purchaser. The proof upon the part of the Commonwealth shows that the Harvester Company had moved out of the State in order to avoid the prosecution of indictments and penal actions against it; that some of the particular acts complained of in the indictment and the business so transacted, was done by and through said Pace as agent for said company; that Gardner had endeavored to avoid service of process upon him, which had issued out of the Hardin Circuit Court upon an indictment or penal action there pending; that one Beard had a commission contract with the Harvester Company which expired on September 1, 1911, and that he having left in his hands certain machinery belonging to the Harvester Company, and which he had not sold, Bondurant, an agent of the Harvester Company had a settlement with him for this machinery in November,' 1911, under which Beard purchased the machinery and gave his note payable to the order of the Harvester Company, for the purchase price.

The circuit judge .overruled appellant’s motion to quash the return upon the process, and the appellant [659]*659having failed to appear or plead, was fined $500, the lowest penalty prescribed by the statute for the offense charged in the indictment. Subsequently, the Harvester Company moved to set aside this judgment, upon the ground that it was a void judgment; and this motion having been overruled, the Harvester Company appeals to this court for a reversal.

The only question involved, therefore, is whether there was such a service of process upon the Harvester Company that would sustain the judgment rendered.

Under section 147 of the Kentucky Code of Practice in Criminal Cases, the summons in criminal cases must be served in the same manner as a summons in civil cases.

Subsection 3 of section 51 of the Civil Code of Practice provides for the service of process in an action against a private corporation, as follows:

“In an action against a private corporation the summons may be served, in any county, upon the defendant’s chief officer, or agent, who may be found in this State; or it may be served in the county wherein the action is brought upon the defendant’s chief officer, or agent who may be found therein.”

Subsection 6 of said section 51, reads as follows:

“In actions against an individual residing in another State, or a partnership, association, or joint stock company, the members of which reside in another State, engaged in business in this State, the summons may be served1 on the manager, or agent of, or person in charge of, such business in this State, in the county where the business is carried on, or in the county where the'cause of action occurred. ’ ’

Section 732 of the Civil Code of Practice, providing for the construction of the Code, declares that unless a different intention be expressed, or be shown by the context, the following rule, among others, shall prevail:

“The chief officer or agents of a corporation which has any of the officers or agent herein mentioned is: First, its president; second, its vice president; third, fits secretary or librarian; fourth, its cashier or agent; fifth, its clerk; sixth, its managing agent.”

It is first contended that the service is insufficient under subsection 6 of section 51, above quoted, because that section does’not specifically include corporations within its terms.

Section 208 of the Constitution, however, provides:

[660]*660“The word corporation, as nsed in this Constitution, shall embrace joint stock companies and associations.”

And, pursuant to this constitutional provision, section 457 of the Kentucky Statutes, regulating the construction of statutes, provides:

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Bluebook (online)
145 S.W. 393, 147 Ky. 655, 1912 Ky. LEXIS 327, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/international-harvester-co-v-commonwealth-kyctapp-1912.