Strickland v. Seaboard Coast Line R. R.

35 Fla. Supp. 170
CourtCircuit Court of the 4th Judicial Circuit of Florida, Duval County
DecidedMay 25, 1971
DocketNo. 69-7446
StatusPublished

This text of 35 Fla. Supp. 170 (Strickland v. Seaboard Coast Line R. R.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Circuit Court of the 4th Judicial Circuit of Florida, Duval County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Strickland v. Seaboard Coast Line R. R., 35 Fla. Supp. 170 (Fla. Super. Ct. 1971).

Opinion

SAM GOODFRIEND, Circuit Judge.

Order for summary judgment, May 5, 1971: This cause coming on to be heard upon the defendant Norfolk & Western Railway Company, a corporation’s, motion to quash service and to dismiss plaintiff’s complaint (amended), and at said time, the court in addition, heard said defendant’s motion for summary judgment filed February 17, 1971; and upon the defendant, Southern Pacific Co., a corporation’s, motion to quash service and to dismiss plaintiff’s complaint; and upon defendant, Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Company’s reasserted motion for summary judgment filed July 21, 1970, the court finds as follows —

As to defendant, Norfolk & Western Railway —

(a) The sheriff’s service shows a Mr. C. J. Schrier, as business agent, resident in the state of Florida.

(b) The plaintiff alleged in its amended complaint which was served on Mr. Schrier, that said defendant, among others, was transacting business in the state of Florida through its agent, who resides in Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida.

(c) The said defendant has an office in Jacksonville, however, it does not issue bills of lading, collect freight, sell passenger tickets, settle claims or handle cash transactions, nor does it have bank accounts in Florida, and it has not obtained a certificate of author[172]*172ity to do business in Florida, and does not operate trains or tracks in Florida. The court does not find that the alleged cause of action accrued or arose out of the matters handled by the defendant through its agent in Florida.

(d) That Mr. Schrier is employed and acts for said defendant for solicitation of traffic over defendant’s lines of railroad out of the state of Florida for the giving of information with respect to the same; that the defendant has a listing in the telephone directory for its one office in Florida, maintained for the solicitation of traffic outside of Florida, for the giving of information, including tracing information, and the transmitting of same to defendant’s principal office in Roanoke, Va., giving of instructions by shippers to issue diversions and re-consignment orders; that none of the defendant’s officers reside in Florida other than one member of its board of directors, who resides in Fort Lauderdale, and in recent years has held not more than one meeting of its board of directors annually in the state of Florida. That said defendant did not designate Mr. Schrier as its resident agent to receive service.

In considering the defendant, Southern Pacific Co.’s motion to quash and dismiss plaintiff’s complaint, the court finds —

(a) That the sheriff served Mr. William T. Delamate as business agent of the within named defendant, resident in the state of Florida.

(b) Mr. Delamate resides in Florida, maintains an office in his home; that said defendant is a Delaware corporation, and its principal office is in California and had no certificate to transact business in Florida, did not operate any trains and has no tracks in the state of Florida, and no officers or directors who reside in Florida. Mr. Delamate has been in Florida two years, and replaced a similar employee of the defendant, is furnished a desk by the company and corresponds with the Atlanta district of the defendant, his travel expenses are paid by the defendant and his expense account and his personal card has his name and the defendant’s name. Mr. Delamate goes to prospective customers and tries to prevail on them that when they route their goods that they are shipping that they route it via Southern Pacific, and Mr. Delamate is paid from the Atlanta office and handles everything east of the Apalachicola River with the defendant’s Birmingham agency handling everything west of it. This defendant did not authorize Mr. Delamate as resident agent to receive service.

In considering the matters of law touching upon the motions to dismiss and the motion to quash, filed by the defendants, Norfolk & Western and Southern Pacific, the court considered —

[173]*173(a) That the plaintiff did not attempt service on said defendants via the secretary of state, pursuant to §48.181, Florida Statutes, but proceeded under §48.081 which provides —

(1) Process against any private corporation, domestic or foreign, may be served:
(a) On the president or vice president, or other head of the corporation; and in his absence:
(b) On the cashier, treasurer, secretary or general manager; and in the absence of all of the above:
(c) On any director; and in the absence of all of the above:
(d) On any officer or business agent residing in the state.
(2) If a foreign corporation has none of the foregoing officers or agents in this state, service may be made on any agent transacting business for it in this state.
(3) As an alternative to all of the foregoing, process may be served on the agent designated by the corporation under §48.091.
(4) This section does not apply to service of process on insurance companies.
(5) Where a corporation has a business office within the state and is actually engaged in the transaction of business therefrom, service upon any officer or business agent, resident in the state, may personally be made, pursuant to this section, and it is not necessary in such case, that the action, suit or proceeding against the corporation shall have arisen out of any transaction or operation connected with or incidental to the business being transacted within the state.

(b) The cases cited by the defendant, Norfolk & Western Railway, in support of its motions were all prior to §48.081, as amended in 1967 (known as the Simari Amendment) amongst which is Beverly v. Norfolk & Western Railway, 16 Fla. Supp. 156, and Graves v. Illinois Central Railroad, 16 Fla. Supp. 161. In said Beverly case and Graves case, the court had facts which are similar to the facts here, and the court held that the scope of the activities of the defendant in the state of Florida did not rise above the “mere solicitation” rule laid down by the Supreme Court of the United States in Green v. Chicago, etc. Railroad Company, 205 U.S. 530, 51 L.Ed. 916, so as to remove it from the protection afforded interstate carriers against suits in jurisdictions where such carriers are not “doing business”. In said case, the court stated that it failed to find in the scope of the defendant’s activities in Florida those “minimum contacts” which have been held sufficient to convey jurisdiction over a foreign corporation, whose activities in the state of the forum justify the conclusion of law that it is “doing business in the state” within the purview of the rule laid down in International Shoe Company v. Washington, 326 U.S. 320, and like cases.

[174]*174(c) Said defendant also cited Illinois Central Railroad Company v. Simari, 191 So.2d 427, wherein there was an appeal from a district court of appeal which had held that the service of process (which was served on a district passenger agent in Miami) was sufficient under §47.17 or §47.171 to vest jurisdiction in the trial court.

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

Related

Green v. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway Co.
205 U.S. 530 (Supreme Court, 1907)
International Shoe Co. v. Washington
326 U.S. 310 (Supreme Court, 1945)
Butler v. Central of Georgia Railway Co.
74 S.E.2d 395 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1953)
Blytheville Cotton Oil Co. v. Kurn
155 F.2d 467 (Sixth Circuit, 1946)
Illinois Central Railroad Company v. Simari
191 So. 2d 427 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1966)
Zirin v. Charles Pfizer & Co.
128 So. 2d 594 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1961)
Kansas City, M. O. Ry. Texas v. Pysher
195 S.W. 981 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1917)
Beverly v. Norfolk & Western Ry.
16 Fla. Supp. 156 (Duval County Circuit Court, 1960)
Graves v. Illinois Central R. R.
16 Fla. Supp. 161 (Duval County Circuit Court, 1960)
Ladd v. New York, New Haven, & Hartford Railroad
79 N.E. 742 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1907)
Smith v. Louisville & Nashville Rd. Co.
267 F. Supp. 716 (S.D. Ohio, 1966)
Donnelly v. Kellogg Co.
293 F. Supp. 53 (S.D. Florida, 1968)
Coreland v. Chicago, B. & Q. R.
293 F. 12 (Eighth Circuit, 1923)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
35 Fla. Supp. 170, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/strickland-v-seaboard-coast-line-r-r-flacirct4duv-1971.