Natalbany Lumber Co. v. McGraw

178 So. 377, 188 La. 863, 1938 La. LEXIS 1132
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJanuary 10, 1938
DocketNo. 34305.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 178 So. 377 (Natalbany Lumber Co. v. McGraw) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Natalbany Lumber Co. v. McGraw, 178 So. 377, 188 La. 863, 1938 La. LEXIS 1132 (La. 1938).

Opinion

ROGERS, Justice.

On September 13, 1935, Ernest F. Mc-Graw, a resident of the city of Baton Rouge, state of Louisiana, while returning from a visit to members of his family residing is the town of Woodville, state of Mississippi, "was seriously injured in a collision between an automobile he was driving and a log truck, which occurred near Laurel Hill, in the parish of West Feliciana, state of Louisiana.

On February 26, 1936, McGraw filed suit in the circuit court of Wilkinson county, state of Mississippi, for the recovery of $37,500 as damages for the injuries he suffered in the accident. In that Isuit he joined as defendants the Natalbany Lumber Company, Limited, and one Wardy Daniels, alleging that the lumber company was the owner and Daniels was the driver of the log truck. He also alleged that the lumber company was a Louisiana corporation, domiciled at Hammond, La., which was authorized to do and was doing business in Mississippi, and that Daniels was a resident of Wilkinson county; Miss.

On March 7, 1936, the Natalbany Lumber Company, Limited, and Daniels, its co-defendant, instituted suits in the Nineteenth judicial district court for the parish of East Baton Rouge, state of Louisiana, seeking to enjoin McGraw from prosecuting, his suit in the state of Mississippi, and on *867 March 9, 1936, the lumber company and its codefendant filed pleas in abatement in the Mississippi court, pursuant to which no further action has been taken in that court.

Answers were filed and issue joined in both suits for injunctive relief in the Louisiana court. Subsequently, and before his cause of action could prescribe, McGraw filed suit for the same alleged tort against the Natalbany Lumber Company, Limited, in the parish of Tangipahoa, state of Louisiana, where it maintains its domicile. War-dy Daniels was not made a party to that suit.

Restraining orders which were issued in both suits were continued from time to time until October 27, 1936, when the suits by agreement were consolidated and tried together on the merits. On January 15, 1937, separate judgments were rendered in favor of the Natalbany Lumber Company, Limited, and Wardy Daniels, plaintiffs, against Ernest F. McGraw, defendant, forever enjoining the defendant from further proceeding with his action against plaintiffs in the Mississippi court. These judgments were signed on January 27, 1937, and on January 28, 1937, McGraw applied for and was granted orders of appeal therefrom. By consent of counsel the appeals were consolidated for hearing in this court, with the proviso, however, that a separate judgment be rendered in each case.

Plaintiffs, in their petitions, allege that the Natalbany Lumber Company, Limited, is and always has been a Louisiana corporation, with its domicile at Hammond, La.; that Wardy Daniels is and always has been a resident of the parish of Rapides, La.; that Ernest F. McGraw is and has been since 1920 a resident of the parish of East Baton Rouge, La.; and that the accident in which McGraw was injured occurred in the parish of West Feliciana, La.

Plaintiffs allege that McGraw’s suit should have been brought in the parish of West ^Feliciana, where the accident ¡occurred, or in the parish of Tangipahoa, the domicile of the Natalbany Lumber Company, Limited, or in the parish of Rapides, the domicile of Wardy Daniels, and not in Wilkinson county, state of Mississippi, which had no jurisdiction either of the parties or of the subject-matter of the suit.

Plaintiffs allege that Wardy Daniels was made a codefendant in the suit filed by McGraw in Mississippi for the purpose of evading the jurisdiction of the Louisiana courts, and in order that McGraw might obtain an advantage which he did not have or possess in those courts.

Plaintiffs allege that the practice and procedure in the courts of the state of Mississippi in the trial of personal injury suits is wholly different .from that in the courts of the state of Louisiana; that personal injury cases are tried before a jury in Mississippi, the quantum of damages allowed is usually excessive, and the power of the Supreme Court of Mississippi to reverse jury verdicts is very limited as compared to that of the Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Plaintiffs allege that in Louisiana the Natalbany Lumber Company, Limited, would have a legal right to plead in the alternative the contributory • negligence of *869 McGraw, which, if established, would completely bar any right of recovery in this state, whereas, in the state of Mississippi, the plea of contributory negligence in tort actions is no bar to the recovery of damages and can only be used to diminish the damages.

The testimony in the record satisfies us as it satisfied the trial judge that Wardy Daniels is a resident of Rapides parish, -La., and not of Wilkinson county, Miss. He was born and reared in Rapides parish and lives with his father and mother near the town of Boyce in that .parish. Daniels follows the calling of truck driver or log hauler. In the pursuit of his calling he is often absent from his home in Rapides parish for short intervals, but during his temporary absences pays frequent visits, practically every two weeks, to his home.

The testimony shows that on September 1, 1935, Daniels accepted temporary employment as a truck driver for one of his relatives residing in Wilkinson county, Miss., and that he had only been in that state about thirteen days when the accident occurred. Previous to that time Daniels had been living at his home in Louisiana. When he left home he took with him only a few of his clothes and personal effects.

Not only had Daniels been in Mississippi only about thirteen days when the accident occurred, but he also continued to exercise his rights as a citizen of Rapides parish, and voted there in the state-wide election of 1936, which was several months after the accident happened.

The disputed question of the domicile of Wardy Daniels having been determined, the facts disclosed by the record are that Mc-Graw, plaintiff in the suit in the Mississippi court, is a resident of Louisiana; the defendant Wardy Daniels is also a resident of Louisiana; the defendant Natalbany Lumber Company, Limited, is a Louisiana corporation, with its domicile in Louisiana; and the accident in which McGraw was injured occurred in Louisiana; from which it follows that the Louisiana courts, and not the Mississippi courts, are vested with jurisdiction of the parties and of the subject-matter of the suit.

But appellant contends that, irrespective of whether the domicile of Wardy Daniels is in Louisiana or in Mississippi, he cannot be enjoined from the prosecution of his suit in Mississippi against the Natalbany Lumber Company, Limited, on a transitory cause of action, because the defendant lumber company is duly qualified to do and is doing business in Mississippi, with a resident agent for service of process. The record, however, shows that the Natalbany Lumber Company, Limited, although it owns some timber lands in Wilkinson county, Miss., has no office and no agent there for service of process.

As a general rule a tort action is transitory and may be entertained wherever jurisdiction of the offender may be found, whether a corporation or a natural person. Williams v. Pope Mfg. Co., 52 La.Ann. 1417, 27 So. 851, 50 L.R.A. 816, 78 Am.St.Rep. 390.

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Related

Daniels v. McGraw
178 So. 380 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1938)

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Bluebook (online)
178 So. 377, 188 La. 863, 1938 La. LEXIS 1132, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/natalbany-lumber-co-v-mcgraw-la-1938.