O'Shatz v. Bailey

220 F. Supp. 444, 7 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 283, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7389
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedAugust 16, 1963
DocketCiv. A. No. 14369
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 220 F. Supp. 444 (O'Shatz v. Bailey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
O'Shatz v. Bailey, 220 F. Supp. 444, 7 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 283, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7389 (D. Md. 1963).

Opinion

NORTHROP, District Judge.

In this action based on a rear-end collision, each defendant has moved to dismiss, primarily on the ground of lack of' venue. The complaint, as originally filed January 24,1963, contained the following averments: the plaintiff, a New York citizen now residing in the District of' Columbia, was driving on U. S. Route 40> in Maryland, near Aberdeen, on January 26, 1960, when the car ahead of him. driven by the defendant Frank Bailey negligently came to an abrupt stop; the plaintiff managed to stop his car in time-to avoid a collision, but a car being driven by defendant Daniel Dobbs immediately behind the plaintiff struck the latter’s, car. The plaintiff further averred substantial physical injury to himself and' damage to his automobile. Defendant Bailey was alleged to be a Maryland citizen and resident, and defendant Dobbs-to be a New York citizen residing in-Queens Village, New York City.

On April 9, 1963, the plaintiff filed an-, amended complaint to aver that he himself was a citizen, as well as a resident, of the District of Columbia. On April 17, the court permitted further amendment so that the complaint would aver-that the Dobbs car was being driven by Daniel Dobbs’ minor son Douglas Hyde-Dobbs; the complaint as amended charges that Douglas Dobbs’ negligence is to be-imputed to his father.

Defendant Frank Bailey now moves-that the venue requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 1391 are not met in that neither the-plaintiff nor all defendants reside in this-judicial district. Defendant Daniel Dobbs urges the same lack of venue, and-that the plaintiff should not be permitted,. [446]*446without oral evidence on the question of citizenship, to amend the complaint on this point. Defendant Dobbs further urges that the plaintiff has no recognized cause of action, or that, if he does allege a cause of action, it is a new one which should be barred by limitations.

A. Amendments of Complaint

The court is not inclined to reopen the question of the two amendments. As to the first, under Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure the plaintiff was not required to justify it (no ■answer having been filed), but we also note that, with the brief submitted following the hearing of the motions, the plaintiff has submitted an affidavit testifying to his citizenship in the District of Columbia, as well as some documentary evidence of his employment there. In regard to the second amendment, authorized by Judge Winter’s order of April 17, we assume that the court deemed the requirements of Rule 15 met, and therefore it is the court’s view that the second ■amendment should relate to the date on which the original complaint was filed.

B. Venue

In view of the plaintiff’s second ■amendment, the diversity of citizenship required by 28 U.S.C. § 1331 is present. The principal question in this case becomes one of venue. Rule 12 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure of course recognizes the defense of improper venue, which has been raised by both defendants in the present case. The applicable test is 28 U.S.C. § 1391(a), which reads:

“A civil action wherein jurisdiction is founded only on diversity of citizenship may, except as otherwise provided by law, be brought only in the judicial district where all plaintiffs or all defendants reside.”

The plaintiff urges that the defendant Dobbs has waived his objection by combining it, in the same document, with a motion to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action. This court cannot accept any such view of waiyer. We quote from Rule 12(b):

“No defense or objection is waived by being joined with one or more other defenses or objections in a responsive pleading or motion.”

See also 2 Moore’s Federal Practice, § § 12.12, pp. 2260-2264. Of the cases cited by the plaintiff in favor of waiver, one, Beneficial Industrial Loan Corporation v. Kline, 41 F.Supp. 854 (S.D.Iowa 1941), appears actually to be against it, and the others, with one exception, appear to antedate Rule 12. The exception is Billings Utility Co. v. Advisory Committee, 135 F.2d 108 (8 Cir. 1943), where the defendant’s challenge in another court which had jurisdiction over the subject matter, to the sufficiency of plaintiff’s complaint as well as to the proper venue of the action, was said to waive objections to jurisdiction over the person of the defendant. The earlier decision of the other court having jurisdiction over the person and the subject matter was considered res judicata. In light of Rule 12 and the many cases in conflict with the above decision, if the decision can be viewed as endorsing the waiver doctrine, this court is not inclined to follow it.

C. Severance and Transfer

The plaintiff urges that, if the court is persuaded that venue is improper, this may be cured by severing the action against defendant Dobbs. Rule 21, permitting severance, and 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), permitting transfer in the interest of justice where venue is improper, are invoked. Two questions arise in this connection: first, whether defendant Dobbs is an indispensable party, and second, whether valid service of process was obtained against this defendant (and whether valid service is essential to transfer).

1. Camp v. Gress, 250 U.S. 308, 316, 39 S.Ct. 478, 63 L.Ed. 997 (1919), was summarized in Industrial Waxes, Inc. v. International Rys. of Cent. Amer., 193 F.Supp. 783, n. 18 (S.D.N.Y. 1961) as holding that “[a] resident de[447]*447fendant may not avail himself of a dismissal as tó a non-resident, unless the latter is an indispensable party.” As described in the complaint, the defendant Bailey and the minor Douglas Dobbs would appear to be joint tortfeasors by at least one test, that of “single indivisible result.” Prosser on Torts, § 45, pp. 226-227. However, a decision on this point seems unnecessary. A succession of authorities has stated that a joint tortfeasor is not an indispensable party. See Champion Spark Plug Company v. Karchmar, 180 F.Supp. 727 (S.D.N.Y. 1960) quoting Martin v. Chandler, 85 F.Supp. 131, 132 (S.D.N.Y.1949), 180 F.Supp. at 729:

“ 'It is hornbook law that one tort feasor, defendant in an action, may not claim that another, a joint tort feasor, is an indispensable party.’ ”

See also 3 Moore’s Federal Practice, § 19.07, p. 2153:

“Tort feasors are not indispensable or necessary to an action against one of their number, because their liability is both joint and several.”

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Bluebook (online)
220 F. Supp. 444, 7 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 283, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7389, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oshatz-v-bailey-mdd-1963.