McCrory Corp. v. Girard Rubber Corp.

61 Pa. D. & C.2d 319, 1972 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 116
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Erie County
DecidedNovember 9, 1972
Docketno. 286-A of 1972
StatusPublished

This text of 61 Pa. D. & C.2d 319 (McCrory Corp. v. Girard Rubber Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Erie County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCrory Corp. v. Girard Rubber Corp., 61 Pa. D. & C.2d 319, 1972 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 116 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1972).

Opinion

MCCLELLAND, j.,

— Plaintiff, hereafter called “McCrory,” filed a complaint in assumpsit against defendant, hereafter called “Girard.” Basically, McCrory lost a lawsuit in the United States District Court in Erie to the extent of over $50,000 and they seek indemnification from Girard. A minor party was injured by a toy arrow which contained a defective rubber suction cup tip, manufactured by Girard. McCrory notified Girard of the Federal trial but Girard refused to participate in the defense of the case.

The toy arrow was purchased by McCrory from a Tennessee company and the suction cup tip had been sold to the Tennessee company by Girard.

The tenuous nature of Girard’s connection with Pennsylvania is that about five percent of its business is done in Pennsylvania.

Girard filed preliminary objections containing numerous allegations, the chief of which is that “this [320]*320Court lacks jurisdiction because the defendant is a corporation not doing business within Pennsylvania.”

Initially, as Judge Hoffman stated:

“Rule 1028(c) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure provides that ‘[t]he court shall determine promptly all preliminary objections. If an issue of fact is raised, the court shall take evidence by depositions or otherwise.’ ... In the instant case where appellant argued that it was not amenable to suit because it was not doing business in the Commonwealth, the taking of evidence by the court before decision was required. Zeitchick Estate v. Zeitchick, 215 Pa. Superior Ct. 106, 257 A. 2d 371 (1969), and Szekely v. Abilene Flour Mills Co., 211 Pa. Superior Ct. 442, 237 A. 2d 242 (1967)”: Luria v. Luria, 220 Pa. Superior Ct. 168 (1971).

All parties herein agree that the pleadings and interrogatories have defined the essential facts so no additional evidence is necessary.

For over 120 years the prime requisite for in personam jurisdiction in Pennsylvania over unregistered foreign corporations has been the “doing of business” by the corporation in Pennsylvania. In Shambe v. Delaware & Hudson R. R. Co., 288 Pa. 240 (1927), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court cited:

“The essential elements which constitute ‘doing business,’ as required by our laws, are the same as those necessary under the due process clause of the federal Constitution. We must ascertain if the following requisite essentials appear in this case: (1) The company must be present in the State, (2) by an agent (International Harvester Company v. Kentucky, supra; Chipman, Ltd., v. Jeffery Co., supra; Eline v. Western Maryland Ry. Co., supra; Riverside Mills v. Menefee, supra; Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. [321]*321Spratley, 172 U.S. 602; Peoples Tobacco Co., Ltd., v. American Tobacco Co., 246 U. S. 79), (3) duly authorized to represent it in the State (International Harvester Co. v. Kentucky, supra); (4) the business transacted therein must be by or through such agent (Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Spratley, supra, 618; Chipman, Ltd., v. Jeffery Co., supra); (5) the business engaged in must be sufficient in quantity and quality (Rosenberg Co. v. Curtis Brown Co., supra; Green v. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Ry. Co., supra; Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Spratley, supra; Bank of America v. Whitney Central National Bank, supra; Jackson v. Hillerson, 59 Pa. Superior Ct. 508, 515); (6) there must be a statute making such corporations amenable to suit (Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Spratley, supra). The term ‘quality of acts’ means those directly, furthering' or essential to, corporate objects; they do not include incidental acts: Jackson v. Hillerson, supra; Green v. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Ry. Co., supra. By ‘quantity of acts’ is meant those which are so continuous and sufficient to be termed general or habitual. A single act is not enough: Hunau v. Northern Region Supply Corporation, 262 Federal 181. Each case must depend on its own facts, and must show that the essential requirement of jurisdiction has been complied with.”

Known as the “other activities” doctrine or the “solicitation plus” doctrine, these criteria were applied by our courts. [See 27 University of Pittsburgh Law Review 879, “Jurisdiction over Unregistered Foreign Corporations Doing Business in Pennsylvania: Confusion in Perspective” for a complete history of the problem until 1966.]

In 1945, the Supreme Court of the United States [322]*322relaxed these rigid standards in the seminal case of International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U. S. 310 (1945). Chief Justice Stone wrote:

“Historically the jurisdiction of courts to render judgment in personam is grounded on their de facto power over the defendant’s person. Hence his presence within the territorial jurisdiction of a court was prerequisite to its rendition of a judgment personally binding him. Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U. S. 714, 733 [24 L. ed. 565 572]. But now that the capias ad respondendum has given way to personal service of summons or other form of notice, due process requires only that in order to subject a defendant to a judgment in personam, if he be not present within the territory of the forum, he have certain minimum contacts with it such that the maintenance of the suit does not offend ‘traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.’

“It is evident that the criteria by which we mark the boundary line between those activities which justify the subjection of a corporation to suit, and those which do not, cannot be simply mechanical or quantitative. The test is not merely, as has sometimes been suggested, whether the activity, which the corporation has seen fit to procure through its agents in another state, is a little more or a little less. St. Louis S. W. R. Co. v. Alexander, supra, [227 U. S. 218, 57 L. ed. 486, 33 S. Ct. 245, Ann. Cas. 1915B 77]; International Harvester Co. v. Kentucky, supra [234 U. S. 579, 58 L. ed. 1479, 34 S. Ct. 944]. Whether due process is satisfied must depend rather upon the quality and nature of the activity in relation to the fair and orderly administration of the laws which it was the purpose of the due process clause to insure. That clause does not contemplate that a state may make binding a judgment in personam against an individual or corporate [323]*323defendant with which the state has no contacts, ties, or relations. Cf. Pennoyer v. Neff [95 U. S. 714, 24 L. ed. 565], supra; Minnesota Commercial Assn. v. Benn 261 U. S. 140, 67 L. ed. 573, 43 S. Ct. 293].

“But to the extent that a corporation exercises the privilege of conducting activities within a state, it enjoys the benefits and protection of the laws of that state.

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Related

Pennoyer v. Neff
95 U.S. 714 (Supreme Court, 1878)
Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance v. Spratley
172 U.S. 602 (Supreme Court, 1899)
International Harvester Co. of America v. Kentucky
234 U.S. 579 (Supreme Court, 1914)
People's Tobacco Co. v. American Tobacco Co.
246 U.S. 79 (Supreme Court, 1918)
Minnesota Commercial Men's Assn. v. Benn
261 U.S. 140 (Supreme Court, 1923)
International Shoe Co. v. Washington
326 U.S. 310 (Supreme Court, 1945)
McGee v. International Life Insurance
355 U.S. 220 (Supreme Court, 1957)
Keckler v. Brookwood Country Club
248 F. Supp. 645 (N.D. Illinois, 1965)
Benn v. Linden Crane Co.
326 F. Supp. 995 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1971)
Williams v. Connolly
227 F. Supp. 539 (D. Minnesota, 1964)
Kulicke v. Rollway Bearing Company
131 F. Supp. 572 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1955)
Zeitchick Estate v. Zeitchick
257 A.2d 371 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1969)
Nettis v. Di Lido Hotel
257 A.2d 643 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1969)
Wenzel v. Morris Distributing Co.
266 A.2d 662 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1970)
Luria v. LURIA
286 A.2d 922 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1971)
Lutz v. Foster & Kester Co., Inc.
79 A.2d 222 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1951)
Cecere v. Ohringer Home Furniture Co.
220 A.2d 350 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1966)
Webb v. Zern
220 A.2d 853 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1966)

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Bluebook (online)
61 Pa. D. & C.2d 319, 1972 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 116, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccrory-corp-v-girard-rubber-corp-pactcomplerie-1972.