Republic Supply Corp. v. Lewyt Corp.

160 F. Supp. 949, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2588
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedMarch 20, 1958
DocketCiv. No. 17200
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 160 F. Supp. 949 (Republic Supply Corp. v. Lewyt Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Republic Supply Corp. v. Lewyt Corp., 160 F. Supp. 949, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2588 (E.D. Mich. 1958).

Opinion

O’SULLIVAN, District Judge.

This suit was removed to this court from the Wayne County Circuit Court. Following removal, defendant filed a Motion to Quash, Vacate and Set Aside Service of Process, upon the principal ground that defendant, a foreign corporation, was not doing business in Michigan so as to make it amenable to the service of process in this state. The motion also asserts that Melvin J. Reibert, upon whom service was had, was not a person upon whom service could be had, and that the summons was fatally defective on its face. Neither of these latter two grounds was relied on by the defendant in oral argument or brief; and the Court, in any event, is of the opinion that they are without merit.

Affidavits filed in support of, and in opposition to, defendant’s motion raised issues of fact, upon which oral testimony was taken. The testimony brought out facts additional to those set forth in the affidavits. This practice is procedurally in keeping with both Federal Rules (Rule 43(e), 28 U.S.C.A.) and the Michigan Statutes (M.S.A. § 27.988, C.L.1948, § 618.8). Under Rule 52 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, it is not necessary that the Court make Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law upon disposition of the motion now before the Court. However, because the Court feels that some issues of fact need resolution as background to decision on this motion, the Court’s recital of any fact should be understood to be the Court’s Finding, wherever such fact was a matter in issue.

This Court is of the opinion that the defendant was doing business in Michigan to an extent which made it amenable to the process now under attack by the defendant. The question here involved has been considered in many decisions. These decisions supply no rigid formula which can be invoked to make easy a determination of the question in the varying factual situations which are presented.

“No all-embracing rule as to what is ‘doing business’ has been laid down. The question is one of fact, and it is to be determined largely according to the facts of each individual case rather than application of fixed, definite, and precise rules.” 14A C.J., p. 1372; 20 C.J.S. Corporations § 1920.

“It is recognized that no exact test can be - prescribed but each case must stand on its own facts.” Watson-Higgins Milling Co. v. St. Paul Milling Co., 256 Mich. 258, at page 259, 239 N.W. 295, at page 296.

[951]*951This Court recognizes the generality that mere solicitation of sales by a foreign corporation within a particular state through salesmen entering such state, and shipment of goods into that state to fill said orders, do not constitute doing business so as to subject the selling corporation to the process of the state from which the orders were solicited. Recent decisions, however, hold that it takes little more than such selling activity to result in the selling corporation being legally found in the state doing business and subject to its process. The following language of Justice Rutledge in the case of Frene v. Louisville Cement Co., 77 U.S.App.D.C. 129, 134 F.2d 511, at page 515, 146 A.L.R. 926, emphasizes this trend of recent decisions:

“It is now recognized that maintaining many kinds of regular business activities constitutes ‘doing business’ in the jurisdictional sense, notwithstanding they do not involve concluding contracts. In other words, the fundamental principle underlying the ‘doing business’ concept seems to be the maintenance within the jurisdiction of a regular, continuous course of business activities, whether or not this includes the final stage of contracting * * and very little more than ‘mere solicitation’ is required to bring about this result.”

The briefs of both parties indicate counsels’ conclusion that the law of Michigan should control the decision of this case. The Michigan court has adopted the rule that not a great deal more than mere solicitation is required to sustain Michigan’s jurisdiction of a foreign corporation. While the facts in the case of Dobson v. Maytag Sales Corporation, 292 Mich. 107, 290 N.W. 346, are not exactly in point with the case at bar, and the activities of that defendant corporation were, to some extent, different in kind from, and more extensive than, the activities of defendant in this case, it is this Court’s opinion that the activities of the Maytag Sales Corporation in the Dobson case were sufficiently like the activities of Lewyt Corporation here to justify using the reasoning of the Dob-son case in deciding the instant motion.

If it is necessary to find harmony between the Michigan law and Federal decisions, it seems clear that the United States Supreme Court in the case of International Shoe Co. v. State of Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95, announces the Federal rule to be the same, in broad principle, with that of Michigan.' A recital of the facts in the International Shoe Co. case demonstrates that the activities there under consideration were not unlike the activities of Lewyt Corporation, as such activities are later described in this opinion. The United States Supreme Court described the activities of International Shoe Company as follows:

“Appellant has no office in Washington and makes no contracts either for sale or purchase of merchandise there. It maintains no stock of merchandise in that state and makes there no deliveries of goods in intrastate commerce. During the years from 1937 to 1940, now in question, appellant employed eleven to thirteen salesmen under direct supervision and control of sales managers located in St. Louis. These salesmen resided in Washington; their principal activities were confined to that state, and they were compensated by commissions based upon the amount of their sales. The commissions for each year totaled more than $31,000. Appellant supplies its salesmen with a line of samples, each consisting of one shoe of a pair, which they display to prospective purchasers. On occasion they rent permanent sample rooms for exhibiting samples, in business buildings, or rent rooms in hotels or business buildings temporarily for that purpose. The cost of such rentals is reimbursed by appellant.
“The authority of the salesmen is limited to exhibiting their samples and soliciting orders from prospective buyers, at prices and on terms [952]*952fixed by appellant. The salesmen transmit the orders to appellant’s office in St. Louis for acceptance- or rejection, and when accepted the merchandise for filling the orders is shipped F. O. B. from points outside Washington to the purchasers within the state. All the merchandise shipped into Washington is invoiced at the place of shipment from which collections are made. No salesman has authority to enter into contracts or to make collections.”. 326 U.S. at pages 313, 314, 66 S.Ct. at page 157.

This Court recognizes that there are elements of fact in that case which are not present in the case at bar. The salesmen in that case resided in the state where process was served. The defendant Lewyt Corporation’s sales manager resided in Illinois. This Court, however, does not think his place of residence is controlling. What he did in Michigan is the important consideration.

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160 F. Supp. 949, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2588, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/republic-supply-corp-v-lewyt-corp-mied-1958.