Jacobs v. Blair

157 A.D. 601, 142 N.Y.S. 897, 1913 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6672
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJuly 10, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 157 A.D. 601 (Jacobs v. Blair) 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
Jacobs v. Blair, 157 A.D. 601, 142 N.Y.S. 897, 1913 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6672 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1913).

Opinions

Clarke, J.:

This action is brought by a resident of the city of New York against the receivers of the Fere Marquette Railroad Company, a Michigan corporation, to recover damages for personal injuries sustained while a passenger, in a collision on October 3, 1912, in the State of Michigan.

On April 5, 1912, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan duly appointed Newman Erb, Frank W. Blair and Dudley E. Waters receivers of the railroad and other property of said company. Subsequently Erb resigned and Samuel M. Felton was appointed in his place August 26, 1912. Said receivers duly qualified and entered upon the discharge of their duties as such receivers and are still acting.

The Fere Marquette Railroad Company had heretofore duly' designated William L. Marcy of Buffalo as a person upon whom service of process could be made. The receivers after their appointment did not designate any such agent. The summons and complaint were served on the defendants on February 11, 1913, at 290 Broadway, New-York city, by delivering copies thereof to Edward B. Johns, a managing agent of defendants. Copies thereof were also delivered'to Mr, Marcy.

The motion to set aside the service was based solely upon the ground that the summons and complaint were not served upon any authorized person.

Before the appointment of its receivers the Fere Marquette Railroad Company had offices in New York city and Buffalo. On the ground floor of 290 Broadway the company had its ticket [603]*603office and on the eighth floor its New York city offices, where Mr. Johns, the general eastern agent, was located. In those offices were desks, chairs, filing cases, maps, other office furniture and accessories. A general soliciting business for freight was transacted there. In Buffalo the company had freight cars, furniture and stationery cabinets. The defendants entered into possession of all this property and the offices upon their appointment. They issued letterheads: “Pere Marquette Railroad Company — Frank W. Blair, Dudley E. Waters, S. M. Felton, Receivers. Office of General Eastern Freight Agent, 290 Broadway, New York, N. Y.” They issued a time table at 290 Broadway, dated June 12, 1912, bearing the names of the receivers and under the heading “ Outside offices and agencies” appears “ New York City, 290 Broadway, E. B. Johns, General Eastern Agent.” There is no dispute as to these facts. If the corporation were not in the hands of receivers there could be no doubt that the court would have jurisdiction. Section 1780 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that “An action against a foreign corporation may be maintained by a resident of the State * * * for any cause of action.”

Section 432 provides that personal service of the summons upon a foreign corporation must be made by delivering a copy thereof within the State “ * * * 2. To a person designated for the purpose as provided in section sixteen of the General Corporation Law. 3. If such a designation is not in force, or if neither the person designated, nor an officer specified in subdivision first of this section, can be found with due diligence, and the corporation has property within the State, or the cause of action arose therein; to the cashier, a director, or a managing agent of the corporation, within the State.”

But the railroad is in the hands of receivers. They have property within the State. They have not designated a person to receive service. Johns is their managing agent. The summons was served upon him. They received it. In my opinion such service was good under the provisions of sections 65 and 66 of the Judicial Code of March 3, 1911, which took effect on January 1, 1912 (36 U. S. Stat. at Large, 1104), re-enacting sections 2 and 3 of the act of Congress of March 3, 1887 as reenacted by the act of Congress of August 13, 1888 (24 U. S. [604]*604Stat. at Large, 554; 25 id. 436), as interpreted by the courts. Section 66 (formerly section 3) provides: “Every receiver or manager of any property appointed by any court of the United States may be sued in respect of any act or transaction of his in carrying on the business connected with such property, without the previous leave of the court in which such receiver or manager was appointed; but such suit shall be subject to the general equity jurisdiction of the court in which such manager or receiver was appointed so far as the same may be necessary to the ends of justice.”

Baer v. McCullough (176 N. Y. 97) was an action against receivers of the property of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad Company, appointed by the United States Circuit Court, for damages from a fire due to negligence. For. a unanimous court Parker, Ch. J., said: “ The action was brought against defendants while they were receivers, and in full possession of the property, and it was properly brought under that provision of the Revised Statutes of the United States

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141 F.2d 72 (Second Circuit, 1944)
Jacobowitz v. Thomson
3 F.R.D. 471 (S.D. New York, 1943)
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264 A.D. 403 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1942)
Jacobs v. Central Vermont Railway Co.
132 Misc. 144 (New York Supreme Court, 1928)
Gursky v. Waters
155 N.Y.S. 1111 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1915)
Gursky v. Blair
170 A.D. 976 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1915)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
157 A.D. 601, 142 N.Y.S. 897, 1913 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6672, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jacobs-v-blair-nyappdiv-1913.