Stoner v. Higginson

175 A. 587, 316 Pa. 481, 1934 Pa. LEXIS 757
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 4, 1934
DocketAppeal, 191
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 175 A. 587 (Stoner v. Higginson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stoner v. Higginson, 175 A. 587, 316 Pa. 481, 1934 Pa. LEXIS 757 (Pa. 1934).

Opinion

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Maxey,

This is an appeal from the order of tbe court below refusing to set aside the service of a summons in an action of trespass against sixteen defendants, none of whom were Pennsylvania residents, comprising the partnership of Lee, Higginson & Co. This firm maintained offices in New York, Boston and Chicago, and branch offices in other cities including Pittsburgh, where its office was, from July 1, 1930, in charge of a manager named Gilliland. The firm was registered under the Fictitious Names Act of June 28,1917, P. L. 645, 54 P. S., section 21, the names and residences of all the partners being listed and the fact that Gilliland,was the firm’s agent in Allegheny County being certified. On June 28, 1932, while this agent was in the Pittsburgh office, a deputy sheriff served him with a summons in a suit in trespass against the firm. The Acts of April 2,1856, P. L. 219, section 1, and of April 21, 1858, P. L. 403, section 1, assuming them to be valid and assuming Gilliland to be defendants’ agent, authorized the service made. 1

*484 Counsel for the defendants appeared d. b. e. for the sole purpose of challenging the court’s jurisdiction. Defendants filed a petition stating that they were nonresidents, that Gilliland had ceased to be in their employ on and after June 15th, that on that date they had ceased to do business in Allegheny County, that the court was without jurisdiction over them, and that the attempted service was null and void. This petition was unavailing. Hence this appeal.

On June 14,1932, fourteen days before the service herein attacked, Lee, Higginson & Co. had made the following announcement: “The firm plans to discontinue the issuance and distribution of securities and will, with certain exceptions, withdraw from the deposit business. A corporation to be known as Lee Higginson Corporation, with its capital paid in from sources outside the present partnership, is presently to be formed to engage in the securities business with offices in New York, Boston and Chicago. The assets of Lee, Higginson & Company will remain with the partnership, and following the formation of the new corporation the firm will devote itself to the protection and eventual liquidation of its assets and to the handling of its existing acceptance business.” The firm claimed that on June 15, 1932, it closed all of its offices, its purpose being to withdraw from the securities business, except the offices in New York, Boston and Chi *485 cago, which were kept open for the purpose of completing pending transactions and protecting assets. It was testified by one of the partners that the managers of the branch offices, including the one in Pittsburgh, were notified, on or before June 15,1932, that the firm had determined to withdraw from business and instructed them to close the branch offices on June 15,1932, and to notify the other employees that their employment with the firm terminated on that date. The rent for the office in Pittsburgh was paid until August 29, 1932, when the firm secured the cancellation of its lease. The Pittsburgh manager was paid a salary to June 15,1932, and then he and the other employees were paid additional amounts equivalent to another one-half month’s salary. This was characterized by defendants’ witnesses as “extra compensation for lack of preliminary notice of the termination of employment.” During the latter part of June, 1932, and the early part of July, 1932, the manager sold furniture which was in the firm’s office in Pittsburgh and forwarded to the firm’s New York office the checks received therefor.

The court found from the evidence that the office was kept open in Pittsburgh until July 1, 1932, with the names of the defendants on its doors, that the telephone in the defendants’ name was not disconnected until July 1, 1932, and that this service from June 15th to July 1, 1932, was paid for by defendants. The court also found that Gilliland not only sold the office furniture for the defendants and remitted the proceeds, after June 15, 1932, but he also collected the licenses of defendants’ agents in Pittsburgh and forwarded them to defendants, that he closed two bank accounts of defendants and transmitted the amount to them, and that he shipped to defendants files and records after June 15, 1932, and arranged for the cancellation of the telephone contract as of July 1,1932. The court also found from the evidence that “to all outward appearances defendants were doing business in Allegheny County on June 28, 1932, as they *486 had been for years theretofore, and Gilliland was in outward possession of their office as their agent and representative.”

The appellants argue that, though subsequent to June 15,1932, Gilliland sold the office furniture, sent the firm’s records to New York, etc., that the firm’s name remained on the door of the office, and that the telephone service was not disconnected until July 1, 1932, “that sort of thing was not, we submit, being ‘engaged in business’ but was merely disposing of equipment and closing the office after the defendants had ceased to be ‘engaged in business’ in Allegheny County as investment bankers or otherwise.” It is true that the firm was not engaged in exactly the same sort of business after June 15, 1932, as it had been theretofore, but the evidence amply sustained the finding that the firm was “engaged in business” at the time service was made, i. e., June 28,1932.

Appellants next contend that “registration under the Fictitious Names Act of June 28, 1917, does not operate as a power of attorney [for Gilliland] for substituted sendee.” Appellants say “that the Fictitious Names Act does not have any reference to service of process and is irrelevant to the issues of this appeal,” and “registration under it gives nobody a power of attorney,” and that “it is not directed at nonresidents, but at all persons who do business under fictitious names;...... No provisions of the statute pertain to service of process on either residents or nonresidents.”

That this act makes specific reference to nonresident owners in this State is indicated in the second paragraph of section 1 of the act, which reads as follows: “Where any of the owners of said business live outside of the Go-mmonwealth of Pennsylvania [italics supplied], and carry on or conduct any such business through an agent, such certificate shall also show the name and address of such agent.” The section quoted was amended by the Act of May 10,1921, P. L. 465, by adding after the words “such agent,” “Provided, That the failure of any such *487 person or persons [i.

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Bluebook (online)
175 A. 587, 316 Pa. 481, 1934 Pa. LEXIS 757, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stoner-v-higginson-pa-1934.