Loftus v. Pennsylvania Rd.

107 Ohio St. (N.S.) 352
Ohio Supreme Court·Decided March 27, 1923·No. No. 17605·Published

Opinion

Marshall, C. J.

William Loftus, a minor and an employe of the Pennsylvania Eailroad Company, a resident and citizen of Erie county, Pa., was injured in an accident in the course of his employment at New Castle, Pa. The Pennsylvania Eailroad Company is a corporation organized under the laws of the state of Pennsylvania, and owns and operates a steam railroad through Pennsylvania, Ohio, and other states, and was at the time of the accident engaged in interstate commerce, and the plaintiff was employed in interstate commerce operations. Within the statutory limitation of time plaintiff filed suit against the Pennsylvania Eailroad Company, to recover damages for his injuries under and by virtue of the provisions of the federal Employers’ Liability Act in the court of common pleas of Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and service was made, in accordance with the statutes of Ohio, upon the agent of the Pennsylvania Eailroad Company in that county. The railroad company moved to quash the service of. summons on the ground that by the provisions of Section 11273, General Code, as amended 109 Ohio Laws, 81, the action could not be maintained in the courts of Ohio.

[354] This record calls for the discussion and determination of two questions: First, an interpretation of Section 11273; second, is Section 11273 constitutional?

First. Section 11273 (109 O. L., 81) is as follows:

“An action against the owner or lessee of a line of mail stages or other coaches, a railroad company, interurban railroad company, suburban railroad company or street railroad company owning or operating a railroad, interurban railroad or street railroad within the state, or against a transportation company owning or operating an electric traction road located upon either bank of a canal belonging to the state, may be brought in any county through or into which such line, railroad, interurban railroad, street railroad or electric traction railroad passes or extends; provided that all actions against such owner, lessee or company for injuries to person or property, or for wrongful death must be brought in the county in which the cause of action or some part thereof, arose, or in the county in which the claimant for injuries to person or property or one whose wrongful death was caused, resides at the time when the cause of action arose, if the road or line of such owner, lessee or company or any part thereof be located' in such county. If no part of such line or road be located in such county, then such actions may be brought in the county in which any part of such road or line is located, nearest the place where the claimant for injuries to person or property or the one whose wrongful death was caused, so resided.”

This statute relates to the subject of venue. In the absence of any statutory restriction, it is gen[355] erally conceded by all tbe states of tbe Union that state courts of general jurisdiction will entertain actions transitory in nature against any person or corporation upon whom service of process can be made in accordance with the statutory procedure prescribed by such state. In the state of Ohio this has been declared in the case of Handy v. Insurance Co., 37 Ohio St., 366, 370. This privilege must be held to be limited in this state by the amendment of Section 11273 above quoted. That amendment for the first time prescribes the venue for certain actions against transportation companies. The language of that amendment is not clouded or ambiguous and clearly limits the venue to the county of plaintiff’s residence at the time of the injury, or the county where the injury occurred, if the road or line or any part thereof be located in such county; otherwise in the county where the line is located nearest to the place of residence or injury.

On this branch of the discussion the questions presented are: (1) Does the statute apply to nonresidents of the state? and (2) Does it apply to actions under the federal Employers’ Liability Act?

It is contended by counsel for plaintiff in error: (a) That the amendment only applies to a cause of action arising within the state of Ohio; and (b) that it cannot apply to a foreign corporation, if the cause arose outside of Ohio.

(a) The proviso in Section 11273 includes “all actions” against the classes of corporations referred to in the earlier part of that section. It does not make an exception of those actions arising outside of the state. If this court should place a construction upon the language used which would not make [356] it exclusive, then the word “all” would be rendered entirely devoid of meaning. The plain unambiguous meaning to be given to the language employed makes it clear that the Legislature intended to deprive all persons from resorting to the courts of Ohio in cases against the companies named, whether foreign or domestic, unless the injuries to person or property, or the wrongful death, were caused in the state, or the claimant resides in the state. Inasmuch as the General Assembly was legislating for the state of Ohio, it was unnecessary to state in definite and specific terms that nonresidents of the state, or those who had not suffered damage to person or property within the state, might not employ the process of the courts of the state, and it may not be inferred that, because there was not an express inhibition against nonresidents, they were therefore not intended to be excluded. It is more reasonable to say that they are excluded because of the failure to make a saving clause in their behalf, as was done by a recent Texas statute covering a similar piece of legislation.

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Loftus v. Pennsylvania Rd., 107 Ohio St. (N.S.) 352 (Ohio 1923).

107 Ohio St. (N.S.) 352 (Loftus v. Pennsylvania Rd.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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