Smith v. Belmore

1 F.R.D. 633, 1941 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2013
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Washington
DecidedApril 11, 1941
DocketNo. 35
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 1 F.R.D. 633 (Smith v. Belmore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Belmore, 1 F.R.D. 633, 1941 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2013 (E.D. Wash. 1941).

Opinion

SCHWELLENBACH, District Judge.

This motion is based upon six grounds, the first five of which involve the question of jurisdiction and the sufficiency of the service of process. Clearly the attempted service in this case did not comply with the statutory requirements. Defendant Belmore is non-resident. Jurisdiction over him is attempted to be secured under Section 6360 — -129, Remington’s Code. This is the Section of the Code by which service upon non-residents is made possible in cases involving actions arising out of accidents, collisions and liability in which such non-resident may be involved while operating a motor vehicle upon the public highways of the State of Washington. The pertinent language of the Statute is: “Service of such summons or process shall be made by leaving two copies thereof with a fee of two dollars with the secretary of state of the State of Washington, or at his office, and such service shall be sufficient and valid personal service upon said nonresident: Provided, That notice of such service and a copy of the summons or process is forthwith sent by registered mail, requiring personal delivery, by plaintiff to [634]*634the defendant and the defendant’s return receipt and the plaintiff’s affidavit of compliance therewith are appended to the process and entered as a part of the return thereof: Provided, further, That personal service outside of this state in accordance with the provisions of the statutes thereof relating to personal service of summons outside of this state shall relieve the plaintiff from mailing a copy of the summons or process by registered mail as hereinbefore provided.”

The record herein discloses affidavit of one Edna Mooney, who swears that on October 26, 1940, she served four copies of the summons and complaint in this action on the Secretary of State of the State of Washington “by depositing said copies in the Post Office at Pasco, Washington, addressed to the said Secretary of State at her place of business, to-wit: Olympia, Washington, postage prepaid thereon, the same being sent by regular mail.” The file also contains the affidavit of one D. C. Allard, Deputy Sheriff of Multnomah County, Oregon, to the effect that he served a copy of the summons and complaint in this action on the defendant Belmore in Portland on October 4, 1940.

The record does not show that notice of the service of the summons and complaint upon the Secretary of State was sent to the defendant Belmore by registered mail requiring personal delivery by the plaintiff to the defendant nor is there appended to the process and entered as a part of the return thereof “the defendant’s return receipt and the plaintiff’s affidavit of compliance therewith.” Since the record is lacking in such proof, there is no evidence in it showing that this Court acquired jurisdiction over the defendant Belmore by the attempted service.

Plaintiffs rely upon the second proviso to the effect that personal service outside of the State shall relieve the plaintiff of mailing a copy of the Summons or process by registered mail. However, it will be noted that the second proviso does not relieve the plaintiff of the necessity of mailing notice of the service on the Secretary of State and filing an affidavit of compliance therewith' along with the defendant’s return receipt.

At first blush this might seem to be a supertechnical interpretation of the requirements of the statute. However, a consideration of the implications involved must lead one to the opposite conclusion. It must be remembered that this method of securing jurisdiction over a non-resident is a comparatively new one. It is not one that has been uniformly adopted throughout the United States. The provisions of the Washington Statute do not appear in the Washington Code in that portion of the Code which deals generally with the service of process. Prior to the adoption of this particular section, personal service outside of the State in a tort action was a nullity. A lawyer consulted by a client who had received such service might very well advise him that the safest course would be to ignore the service. Lawyers residing in a State which had not adopted a statute similar to Remington, § 6360 — 129, might, after consulting that portion of the Washington Code relating to service of process, completely overlook the fact that there»was a provision for service of non-residents by means of 'serving the Secretary of State. Undoubtedly, it was because of this fact that the Legislature required in the first proviso the sending by registered mail of the notice of service on the Secretary of State and the appending of defendant’s return receipt as a part of the return of the process. Undoubtedly that same motive caused the Legislature to provide in the second proviso that personal service outside the state should only relieve the plaintiff of mailing a copy of the summons or process by registered mail.

However, in this case defendant Belmore did not ignore the process. He appeared with a motion to dismiss. Counsel for defendant Belmore also represent defendants Taylor and the Casualty Company. On behalf of these defendants counsel filed special appearances and motion to quash. Under the new Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c, the motion to dismiss on the ground of insufficiency of process is the proper procedure. However, in this case defendant Belmore’s motion to dismiss contains not only the five paragraphs raising the question of jurisdiction but also a sixth paragraph which reads: “That the Complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted against this defendant.” Under this paragraph of motion defendant submitted himself to the jurisdiction of the Court and asked general relief. He, therefore, came within the rule laid down by the Supreme Court of the State of Washington in the cases of Teater v. King, 35 Wash. 138, 76 P. 688; Bain v. Thoms, 44 Wash. 382, 87 P. 504; Matson v. Kennecott Mines Co., 101 Wash. 12, 171 P. [635]*6351040, and Id., 103 Wash. 499, 175 P. 181; State ex rel. Hamlin v. Superior Court, 148 Wash. 113, 268 P. 159.

The really difficult question is whether or not new Rules of Civil Procedure make the foregoing cases inapplicable in the Federal Courts. Under Rule 12(b) we find the sentence: “No defense or objection is waived by being joined with one or more other defenses or objections in a responsive pleading or motion.” Standing alone that sentence would seem to furnish the simple solution contended for in defendant’s Reply Memorandum. However, subsection (g) of Rule 12 provides: “If a party makes a motion under this rule and does not include therein all defenses and objections then available to him which this rule permits to be raised by motion, he shall not thereafter make a motion based on any of the defenses or objections so admitted, except that prior to making any other motions under this rule he may make a motion in which are joined all the defenses numbered (1) to (5) in subdivision (b) of this rule which he cares to assert ’’

Despite a careful review of the decisions since the adoption of the new Rules, I have failed to find anything of assistance on this point. The difficulty involved in this determination may be realized from a study of comments on Rule 12 found in Ohlinger’s Federal Practise, Vol. 3, pages 166 and 167.

The fact of the difficulty is even better emphasized by the discussion of the American Bar Association Institute in July, 1938 {found in Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

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Bluebook (online)
1 F.R.D. 633, 1941 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2013, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-belmore-waed-1941.