Taylor v. Navigazione Libera Triestina

95 F.2d 907, 1938 U.S. App. LEXIS 4796, 1938 A.M.C. 669
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedApril 1, 1938
DocketNo. 8582
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 95 F.2d 907 (Taylor v. Navigazione Libera Triestina) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Taylor v. Navigazione Libera Triestina, 95 F.2d 907, 1938 U.S. App. LEXIS 4796, 1938 A.M.C. 669 (9th Cir. 1938).

Opinion

• GARRECHT, Circuit Judge.

This action was brought by the plaintiff, a longshoreman, appellant here, under the Longshoremen’s and Harhorworkers’ Compensation Act §§ 1, 13, 33, 33 U.S. C.A. §§ 901, 913, 933, to recover damages for injuries sustained by him while working on and about a steamship owned’by appellee.

The action was commenced July 1, 1935.

The second amended complaint alleged that defendant, appellee here, was a foreign corporation, organized and existing under the laws of the Kingdom of Italy; [908]*908that said defendant was residing therein and was a non-resident of the State of California, and until July 1, 1935, remained out of the State of California and did not have a legal existence in said State; “in that behalf plaintiff alleges that said defendant was transacting therein foreign and intrastate business”; that said defendant did not file a copy of its articles of incorporation, or a statement of the location of its principal office in California, or a designation of the name and address of a state agent for service of process, as provided by section 405 of the Civil Code of California, as amended by St.Cal. 1933, p. 1416.

It was further alleged, “That at all of the times herein mentioned the defendants owned, managed, operated and controlled the Steamship ‘Fella,’ which said steamship was located at Berth 230 E. Terminal Island, Los Angeles Harbor, California, and at which said time plaintiff was in the employ of the Crescent Wharf and Warehouse Company, and which said employer was engaged under contract with defendants, in unloading baggage from said vessel * * * ”; that on or about October 6, 1933, while plaintiff was so employed, and while in the performance of his duties on said steamship, he was injured by reason of the negligence of defendants.

The appellee’s answer alleged, in effect, that:

The Navigazione Libera Triestina was at all times engaged in business consisting solely of foreign commerce in California, and had places of business and a general manager in said State, and to that extent was,present and resident in California.

Said defendant did not at any time, either until July 1, 1935', or otherwise, remain out of California or not have a legal existence in said state. Said defendant did not transact intrastate business in California, but at all times was engaged in foreign commerce in the state.

The Navigazione Libera Triestina was not obligated by law to file a copy of its articles of incorporation, or a statement of the location of its principal office in the sfate, or a designation of the name and address of a state agent for service of process.

The plaintiff was not injured through the negligence of the defendants.

The plaintiff's cause of action is barred by laches and by the provisions of subdivision 3 of section 340 of the Code of Civil Procedure, providing a one-year statute of limitations for the recovery of damages for personal injuries.

The cause having come on regularly for trial and a jury having been empaneled and sworn, the defendant thereupon moved the court for judgment on the pleadings upon the ground: “ * * * that there was no tolling of the statute of limitations, that there was no prohibition against' or prevention of the right of the defendant Navigazione Libera Triestina to plead, assert and establish the bar of the running of the statute of limitations, that there was no impediment to the commencement of suit and obtaining jurisdiction of the defendant Navigazione Libera Triestina and that the fact that 1 year, 8 months and 24 days elapsed between the time the plaintiff’s cause of action accrued and the time the plaintiff’s action was commenced, is a complete defense and bar to the plaintiff’s cause of action by. reason of the running of the statute of limitations as provided in subdivision 3 of section 340 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the State of California.” The court, without. rendering any opinion and without expressing any specific reasons, granted the motion and entered judgment for defendant, from which this appeal is prosecuted.

The errors assigned by appellant are all directed to the action of the court in granting the motion of defendant, and specifically in ruling that appellant’s action was barred by the provisions of subdivision 3 of section 340 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the State of California, and in holding that there was no tolling of the statute of limitations by reason of the allegations of the second amended complaint to the effect that said defendant, Navigazione Libera Triestina, was out of the state when the cause of action accrued' against said defendant in favor of ■ plaintiff, that said defendant was a nonresident of the State of California, and had no legal existence therein until the year 1935 ; that it did not have an agent or person resident within the state upon whom legal service of summons and complaint in said action could be made; that the defendant foreign corporation failed to comply with the provisions of section 405 of the Civil Code of the State of California, and did not, as provided by said section, file with the Secretary of State of the State of California a certified copy of its articles of incorporation, and did not file with said [909]*909Secretary of State, a statement setting forth the location of its principal office in the State of California; did not file a statement containing the name of some person, resident within the state, upon whom process directed to said corporation could be served, with his business or residence address; and that the court erred in finding that defendant was authorized to transact any business in the State of California.

The sections of the Code of Civil Procedure of California, relating to the limitations on the bringing of actions, so far as is pertinent to this appeal read as follows:

Section 335. “The periods prescribed for the commencement of actions other than for the recovery of real property, are as follows.”

Section 340. “Within one. year: * * 3. An action * * * for injury to or for the death of one caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another.” * * *

However, appellant contends that this action was not barred by the statute of limitations because excepted therefrom by reason of the provisions of section 351 of the Code of Civil Procedure of California, which reads as follows: “If, when the cause of action accrues against a person, he is out of the state, the action may be commenced within the term herein limited, after his return to the state, and if, after the cause of action accrues, he departs from the state, the time of his absence is not part of the time limited for the commencement of the action.”

It is agreed that the cause of action sought to be litigated was governed by the one-year statute of limitations provided for by subdivision 3 of section 340 of the California Code of Civil Procedure.

The record shows that the action was not brought within one year and unless there are other facts alleged which are sufficient to avoid this limitation of the statute the judgment must be affirmed.

It is affirmatively alleged that the appellee was engaged in “intrastate” as well ■as “foreign” commerce. Appellee’s answer ■denied it did any intrastate business but admitted it engaged in “foreign” commerce.

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Bluebook (online)
95 F.2d 907, 1938 U.S. App. LEXIS 4796, 1938 A.M.C. 669, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylor-v-navigazione-libera-triestina-ca9-1938.