Miller v. Kiamesha-Concord, Inc.

218 A.2d 309, 420 Pa. 604, 1966 Pa. LEXIS 806
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 22, 1966
DocketAppeals, 201 and 202
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 218 A.2d 309 (Miller v. Kiamesha-Concord, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miller v. Kiamesha-Concord, Inc., 218 A.2d 309, 420 Pa. 604, 1966 Pa. LEXIS 806 (Pa. 1966).

Opinion

Opinion by

Mr. Justice O’Brien,

In June of 1962 and May of 1963, Mary Miller and Mary Doline were, respectively, guests at the resort hotel operated by appellant at Kiamesha Lake, New York. Each suffered personal injuries allegedly resulting from the negligence of appellant, and each filed an action of trespass seeking, damages for the injuries suffered, with Louis Doline joining in his wife’s action to recover his damages.

In each case, suit was commenced by the filing of a complaint and service thereof by the Sheriff on-one Lillian'Sternman at her'residence, 6243 N. 12th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania'. Such service was made under Rule 2180 of the Pennsylvania Rules of • Civil-Procedure, apparently based on the fact that Lillian Sternman’^ residence was an office or place of business, of appellant and that Lillian Sternman was at - that time appellant’s agent or person in charge of the office, *606 or that she was an agent authorized by appointment to receive service of process. *

In each case, appellant filed preliminary objections, raising a question of jurisdiction, averring that service was made on a person not authorized to accept service on its behalf; that it maintains no office in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and that it is a New York Corporation not doing business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

The preliminary objections were heard together by the court below and overruled. These appeals followed.

Appellant is a business corporation organized under the laws of the State of New York and is not registered as a foreign corporation doing business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Appellant’s business consists solely of operating a hotel and resort facility situate at Kiamesha Lake, New York. Lillian Stern-man, living at 6243 N. 12th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has been serving the appellant in the form of, as she puts it, a “missionary method” with various travel agencies, attempting to create good will and familiarize them with the facilities available, to encourage them to recommend appellant’s hotel to their clients, and in accepting reservations, herself, for appellant’s hotel. Mrs. Sternman has always operated out of her home, which is owned jointly with her husband. The appellant owns no part of the property, has no furniture there, pays no rent, nor does it have its name listed or shown on any part of the property. Approximately 5 years ago, Mrs. Sternman arranged with the Bell Telephone Company to list appellant’s name in both the yellow, or classified pages, and the white pages, of the Philadelphia Telephone Directory, above *607 her home address. She alone pays for this service. Appellant does supply Mrs. Sternman with various supplies in the form of envelopes, request forms for reservations on which its New York address is printed and on which Mrs. Sternman has a printer add her name and home address, and various types of advertising literature which Mrs. Sternman distributes to various travel agencies and prospective guests.

Mrs. Sternman, upon receiving an application for a reservation at appellant’s hotel, has no authority to accept or reject the reservation, but must send the application to appellant’s reservation department at Kiamesha Lake, New York. Appellant then confirms or rejects the reservation and, in some cases, notifies Mrs. Sternman with a duplicate copy of a letter, the original of which is sent to the persons requesting the reservation. She is paid solely on a commission basis and has a drawing account against her commissions. She considers herself self-employed and pays her own Federal Social Security taxes. The appellant does not withhold any part of her commission earned for Federal income tax purposes. She holds a mercantile license from the City of Philadelphia which is issued in her own name. Lillian Sternman owns none of appellant’s stock, nor is she an officer or director of the corporation. She is paid commissions on the basis of approximately $200,000 worth of business which she does per year.

Appellant holds no meetings in Pennsylvania, nor does it advise or direct in any way Mrs. Sternman’s method of work. Appellant accepts reservations through other travel agencies independent of any effort on Mrs. Sternman’s part, although she does receive a so-called “over-ride” on commissions paid to these various travel agencies in the Philadelphia area.

Appellant contends that, traditionally, we have held that the mere solicitation of business does not consti *608 tute the, doing.-of business in- this Commonwealth. Shambe v. Delaware & Hudson R. R. Co., 288 Pa. 240, 135 A. 755 (1927). In Lutz v. Foster & Kester Co., Inc., 367 Pa. 125, 79 A. 2d 222 (1951), we held that each case must -be judged on its own .particular facts, and if there is solicitation plus- other significant activities, then, the corporation may:.be held. to -be -doing business in this Commonwealth. We said-in-, that case that other activities do not consist of acts of courtesy performed by business solicitors without com-, pulsion, in order to.. satisfy .or accommodate customers-. Nor do they reside in the number of solicitors employed or the character and extent of the facilities;-provided them for carrying on their solicitations ..-The..criterion is, rather, whether the local solicitors,-have am thority to bind the foreign corporation by which they aye employed.”

Following the, decision - in the Lutz case,. supra, -the Legislature amended the Pennsylvania 'Business. Corporation Law, 15 P.S. §2852-1011, with .the addition-, of Subsection C, which was a much expanded definition of doing business. The amendment was limited in its application to causes of.action arising out of acts .or omissions of .the corporation within the Commonwealth, and to that limited extent overruled the Lutz case. In Rufo v. The Bastian-Blessing Company, 405 Pa. 12, 21, 173 A. 2d. 123 (1961), we said: “There can be. no doubt that the legislature, by its enactment of §§1011B and 1011C, intended, to extend and enlarge the -amenability to-suit of a foreign corporation carrying , on activities within the.Commonwealth,and,to abolish the ‘solicitation- plus’ doctrine previously enunciated- by this Court in Shambe v. Delaware & Hudson R. R. Co., 288 Pa. 240, 135 A. 755; Lutz v. Foster & Kester Co., Inc.; 367 Pa. 125, 79 A. 2d 222. Cf: Swavely v. Vandegrift, supra. It, however,, by no means follows-that - the legislature intended, to. make foreign: corporations suable with *609 out limitation. The very language of section 1011B contra indicates such intent.

“Due process does not require that the cause of action against a foreign corporation must arise out of the corporation’s activities in the state where the action is brought: Perkins v. Benquet Consolidated Mining Co., 342 U.S. 437, 446-447. It is clear that the Pennsylvania legislature did not choose to exercise the full extent of jurisdiction conferred upon it and did not make foreign corporations suable as extensively as it could constitutionally have done.

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218 A.2d 309, 420 Pa. 604, 1966 Pa. LEXIS 806, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-kiamesha-concord-inc-pa-1966.