Weinard v. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co.

298 F. 977, 1924 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1698
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedMarch 8, 1924
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 298 F. 977 (Weinard v. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Weinard v. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co., 298 F. 977, 1924 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1698 (mnd 1924).

Opinion

McGEE, District Judge.

This, a personal injury action, was commenced in this court on the 22d day of August, 1923, by the plaintiff, a resident and citizen of the state of Washington, against the defendant railway company, a corporation and a citizen of the state of AVisconsin. The plaintiff seeks to recover from the defendant damages, stated in his complaint at $50,000, for injuries alleged to have been sustained by him while in the employ of the defendant as a boiler maker’s helper in the general shops of the defendant at Tacoma, in the state of Washington, on the 21st day of May, 1923.

The case is before the court at this time on a motion, made on behalf of the defendant, to quash and set aside the service of the summons on the following grounds:

(1) That at the time of the pretended service of the summons and complaint herein the defendant was a foreign corporation, to wit, a citizen and resident of the state of Wisconsin, and the plaintiff was not a citizen or resident of the state of Minnesota, but was, to wit, a citizen and resident of the state of Washington, and that the cause of action set forth in the complaint did not arise within the state of Minnesota, and that this defendant is a common carrier by railroad for hire, and that as such it is engaged and engaging in interstate commerce between the several states by railroad.

(2) That section 7736, General Statutes of Minnesota for 1913, under which said pretended service of summons was attempted to be made, is void, and is in contravention of the Constitution of the state of Minnesota and the Constitution of the United States, and particularly is void and is in contravention of Article 1, § 7, of the Constitution of the state of Minnesota, and in contravention of article 1, § 8, subd. 3, of the Constitution of the United States, and in contravention of article 14, § 1, Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.

(3) That said pretended service is void and of no effect, for the reason that the statute under which the same was attempted to be made is void, as aforesaid, and that said court is prohibited from taking jurisdiction of this defendant in said action, because the taking of such jurisdiction will substantially and unduly interfere with and burden interstate commerce.

It is contended on behalf of the defendant that the case is controlled by the case of Davis, Director General, v. Farmers’ Co-operative Equity Co., 262 U. S. 312, 43 Sup. Ct. 556, 67 L. Ed. 996. In that case the service was made under the authority of section 7735, Generál Statutes of Minnesota 1913, which provides that:

“Any foreign corporation having an agent in this state for the solicitation of freight and passenger traffic or either thereof over its lines outside of this state, may be served with summons by delivering a copy thereof to such agent.”

[979]*979In the Davis Case, section 7735 was held to be violative of the commerce clause of the Constitution of the United States, and for that reason was declared to be unconstitutional and void. The service in the instant case was made under section 7736 of the same statute, and is assailed on the ground that proved fatal to section 7735 in the case mentioned. Section 7736 provides that:

“In any action or proceeding against a .railway company, whether domestic or foreign, including proceedings under the right of eminent domain, service of the summons and of all notices required to be served therein may be made by delivering a copy thereof to any ticket or'freight agent of such company within the county in which the action or proceeding is begun, with the same effect as though made pursuant to § 7735: Provided that, if such company shall appear in an action by a resident attorney, service shall thereafter be made upon such attorney.”

Referring to section 7735, and it would seem that the language Used is equally applicable to section 7736, General Statutes 1913, Mr. Justice Brandéis, speaking for the court in the Davis Case, supra, said;

“As construed by the highest court of Minnesota, this statute compels every foreign interstate carrier to submit to suit there as a condition of maintaining a soliciting agent within the state. ’ Jurisdiction is not limited to suits arising out of business transacted within Minnesota. Compare Mitchell Furniture Co. v. Selden Breck Construction Co., 257 U. S. 213; Missouri Pacific R. R. Co. v. Clarendon Boat Oar Co., 257 U. S. 533; Chipman, Limited, v. Thomas B. Jeffery Co., 251 U. S. 373. It is asserted, whatever the nature of the cause of action, wherever it may have arisen, and although the plaintiff is not, and never has been, a resident of the state. Armstrong Co. v. New York Central R. R. Co., 129 Minn. 104; Lagergren v. Pennsylvania R. R. Co., 130 Minn. 35; Rishmiller v. Denver & Rio Grande R. R. Co., 134 Minn. 261;. Merchants’ Elevator Co. v. Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co., 147 Minn. 188; Callaghan v. Union Pacific R. R. Co., 148 Minn. 482. This condition imposes upon interstate commerce a serious and unreasonable burden, which renders the statute obnoxious to the commerce clause. Compare Sioux Remedy Co. v. Cope, 235 U. S. 197, 203.”

Every factor present in the Davis Case is presented by the record in the instant case, with this difference—that in the Davis Case the railroad corporation involved had no trackage in the state of Minnesota, while in the present case nearly 12 per cent of the defendant’s mileage is within the borders of Minnesota. The question is whether the fact of the presence of trackage in the state renders inapplicable to the instant case the rule announced in the Davis Case. I do not think so.

The present case is one presenting in principle the same, and in degree very much greater, interference with, and obstruction to, interstate commerce than was presented by the facts in the Davis Case. The proofs submitted by the defendant show that it would be required to bring a large number of witnesses to Minneapolis from Tacoma, involving a round trip of 3,574 miles, at great expense, depleting, to the extent of the number of witnesses so taken from their work, the shop force of the defendant at Tacoma, and would increase very materially the expense of the trial over what would be incurred if the case were tried where it arose, at Tacoma, Wash. It is also claimed, and is undoubtedly true, that having to try the case at such a great distance from the point at which the injuries were received would disable the defendant from meeting facts that might be developed on the trial by the [980]*980plaintiff, which could readily be met if the case were tried where the accident occurred, or within a reasonable distance of that place, instead of at a distance measured by half the width of the continent.

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Bluebook (online)
298 F. 977, 1924 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1698, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/weinard-v-chicago-m-st-p-ry-co-mnd-1924.