Pasternack v. Dalo

17 F.R.D. 420, 1955 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4138
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 13, 1955
DocketCiv. A. 12539
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 17 F.R.D. 420 (Pasternack v. Dalo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pasternack v. Dalo, 17 F.R.D. 420, 1955 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4138 (W.D. Pa. 1955).

Opinion

MARSH, District Judge.

The following motions are before the court:

I. Motion by third-party defendants,1 Wojnicz and Kulbieda, to dismiss the action brought against them by the third-party plaintiffs, The Schreiber Transportation Company and The Schreiber Trucking Company, Inc.

II. Motion by third-party defendants, Wojnicz and Kulbieda, to dismiss the plaintiffs’ amended complaint which attempts to state a claim against them.

I.

Motion by Third-Party Defendants to Dismiss Action of Third-Party Plaintiffs.

The reasons assigned to support this motion are as follows:

(a) The third-party complaint fails to state a claim against the third-party .defendants, upon which relief may be , granted.

(b) The summonses were improperly served and the return of service of summons should be quashed.

(a)

The third-party complaint alleges that the third-party defendants are jointly liable with the third-party plaintiffs, and that the latter are “entitled to contribution for all or part of such an amount as may be recovered by the plaintiffs in this suit”. The complaint, as amended, and the third-party complaint tell of a motor vehicle accident which occurred on or about July 25, 1953 causing the death of the plaintiffs’ decedents, and involving the vehicles belonging to the third-party plaintiffs and the third-party defendants. It follows that the proofs may warrant a judgment that the latter are liable over to the former for all or part ef the damages sustained by the plaintiffs’ decedents.

When we view the third-party complaint in the light most favorable to ■ the third-party plaintiffs, as is required, it does not appear for a certainty that they would not be entitled to relief under the facts averred or which might be proved in support of their claim. Cf. Frederick Hart & Co., Inc., v. Recordgraph Corp., 3 Cir., 1948, 169 F.2d 580. The court is satisfied that a claim upon which relief may be granted has been sufficiently stated.

(b)

The original return to the third-party summons does not seem to be in the file. A “substituted copy” marked “filed Dec. 6, 1954” is in the file. Under the “Return On Service of Writ” there appears the following:

“Copied from U. S. Marshal’s rec- • ord:
“Copy of Third Party Summons and 3rd party Complaint returned served on Walenty Wojnicz, at 8303 Goodman Ave., Cleveland, Ohio, Jan Kulbieda, 13505 Durkee Ave., Cleveland, O. and Raymond Hughley, 258 Navy Road, San Francisco. California, by registered mail return receipts attached dated Nov. 26, ■ 1954; Also returned served on the Secretary of Commonwealth of Pa., by registered mail return receipt attached dated 11-26-54.”

This service on the third-party defendants was obtained pursuant to the Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 2079,2 which method seems to be authorized by Rule 4(d) (7), Fed.R.Civ.P.3 The third-party defendants, however, re[423]*423lying on the dicta of Judge Maris in his concurring opinion in McCoy v. Siler, 3 Cir., 1953, 205 F.2d 498, 501, contend that the court did not acquire jurisdiction over their persons because the third-party plaintiffs have sought to “effect extraterritorial service on the Third-party defendant [sic], and extraterritorial service in the Federal Courts is regulated by Federal Procedural Rule 4(F), 28 U.S.C.”4 Agreeing with the concurring opinion in the McCoy case, they argue that Rule 4(f) is a limitation upon the provisions of Rule 4(d) (7).

If this view prevails, Rule 14, Fed.R.Civ.P., providing for joinder of additional parties to enable litigants to avoid multiplicity and circuity of actions, will be considerably narrowed, and it may be expected that cross-actions and suits for contribution and indemnification against nonresidents will be brought as separate actions involving extra time, trouble and expense, instead of being disposed of in the principal litigation as we think was contemplated by the framers of the Federal Rules. See Rule 1, Fed.R.Civ.P. In addition, this view throws Rule 4(d) (7) and Rule 4(f) into conflict with each other when heretofore they seemed to have a logical relationship. Also much of the jurisdiction presently exercised by both federal and state courts would be withdrawn with the consequent deprivation of both forum and remedy to residents injured by nonresident users of highways. Process issued out of either the state courts or the federal courts in a state is invalid when personal service thereof is made extraterritorially upon a nonresident nondomiciliary. Hess v. Pawloski, 1927, 274 U.S. 352, 47 S.Ct. 632, 71 L.Ed. 1091; Pennoyer v. Neff, 1878, 95 U.S. 714, 24 L.Ed. 565.5 Until finally settled, the McCoy concurrence referred to will undoubtedly become the basis for jurisdictional attacks in a considerable number of pending suits.

In an action brought against a nonresident motorist in the District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Giffin v. Ensign, 1953, 15 F.R.D. 200, Judge Follmer disagreed with the McCoy dicta and held that service upon the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania pursuant to the Pennsylvania statute and Rule 2079 6 was valid. I am constrained to agree with this decision. [424]*424Other decisions apparently in accord are in the footnote.7

In addition to the reasons set' forth by Judge Follmer, it seems to me that substituted service upon nonresident motorists by way of a state official is not extraterritorial service but is territorial service upon the nonresidents’ agent. Only the notice given to the nonresidents by registered mail is extraterritorial.

A state has power to regulate the use of its highways by nonresidents. Hendrick v. State of Maryland, 1915, 235 U.S. 610, 622, 35 S.Ct. 140, 59 L.Ed. 385. If the state so provides, the use of its highways by a nonresident is the equivalent of the appointment by him of a state official as his agent upon whom process may be served. Hess v. Pawloski, supra. The jurisdiction thus obtained over nonresident motorists is bottomed on the state’s physical power over their persons, “although in civilized times it is not necessary to maintain that power throughout proceedings properly begun * * McDonald v. Mabee, 1917, 243 U.S. 90, 91, 37 S.Ct. 343, 61 L.Ed. 608. As Judge Learned Hand expressed it:

“Had it been possible at the moment when the putative liability arose to set up a piepowder court pro hac vice, the state would have had power to adjudicate the liability then and there; and his [the nonresident’s] departure should not deprive it of the jurisdiction in personam so acquired.” Kilpatrick v. Texas & P. Ry. Co., 2 Cir., 1948, 166 F.2d 788, 791.

Substituted service has been “quite uniformly upheld", e.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Continental Motion Pictures v. Allstate Film Co.
590 F. Supp. 67 (C.D. California, 1984)
Rees, Weaver & Co. v. M.B.C. Paper Mill Corp.
406 A.2d 562 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1979)
Mickelic v. United States Postal Service
367 F. Supp. 1036 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1973)
Kenrose Manufacturing Co. v. Fred Whitaker Co.
53 F.R.D. 491 (W.D. Virginia, 1971)
McKee v. Southern Railway Co.
50 F.R.D. 502 (M.D. Georgia, 1970)
Corbi v. United States
298 F. Supp. 521 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1969)
Adams Dairy Co. v. National Dairy Products Corp.
293 F. Supp. 1164 (W.D. Missouri, 1968)
Olson v. United States
38 F.R.D. 489 (D. Nebraska, 1965)
Dovberg v. Dow Chemical Co.
195 F. Supp. 337 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1961)
Dovberg v. Dow Chemical Company
195 F. Supp. 337 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1961)
Stenhouse v. Jacobson
193 F. Supp. 694 (N.D. California, 1961)
Brandt v. Bay City Super Market
182 F. Supp. 937 (N.D. California, 1960)
Brandt v. Olson
179 F. Supp. 363 (N.D. Iowa, 1959)
Crawford v. Lydick
179 F. Supp. 211 (W.D. Michigan, 1959)
Super Products Corp. v. Parkin
20 F.R.D. 377 (S.D. New York, 1957)
Giffin v. Ensign
234 F.2d 307 (Third Circuit, 1956)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
17 F.R.D. 420, 1955 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4138, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pasternack-v-dalo-pawd-1955.