Case Title: Kennedy v. Sundown Speed Marine, Inc.

Citation: 647 P.2d 30, 97 Wash. 2d 544

Docket Number: 47980-1

State: washington

Court: Washington Supreme Court

Date: 1982-06-24T00:00:00Z

Document:
97 Wn.2d 544 (1982) 647 P.2d 30 PATRICK H. KENNEDY, Petitioner, v. SUNDOWN SPEED MARINE, INC., ET AL, Defendants, VOLVO PENTA OF AMERICA, Respondent. No. 47980-1. The Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc. June 24, 1982. Leavy, Schultz & Sweeney, P.S., by John G. Schultz, for petitioner. MacGillivray & Jones, by Stephen C. Haskell, for *545 respondent. DOLLIVER, J. Plaintiff purchased a 28-foot boat from defendant Sundown Speed Marine, Inc. The manufacturer of the boat was defendant Hawaiian Boats, Inc. of California. The engine was manufactured by defendant Volvo Penta of America, a division of Volvo of America. After taking possession, plaintiff claimed the boat, including the engine, was defective. He revoked acceptance and demanded return of all moneys expended. An action for breach of warranty was commenced in June 1979. On July 3, 1979, the summons and complaint were served by a deputy sheriff of Chesapeake, Virginia on a production worker at the Volvo Penta plant in Chesapeake. The corporate headquarters of Volvo of America are in Rockleigh, New Jersey. Volvo claims it never received the papers. Subsequently, a default judgment was entered against Volvo and payment was requested. Volvo, contending it was unaware of the action, moved under CR 60 to vacate the judgment. The motion was denied. The Court of Appeals, in an unpublished opinion, reversed. We now reverse the Court of Appeals and uphold the denial of the motion to vacate. The requirements for effective service on a foreign corporation are contained in RCW 4.28.080: [1] In Crose v. Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft, 88 Wn.2d 50, 58, 558 P.2d 764 (1977), we stated: The law is clear. The question is whether the person upon whom the papers were served was an agent in fact. Volvo does not deny service could have been made at the Chesapeake plant; it denies only that service was made on a person authorized to receive it. At the hearing on the motion to vacate, the following documents were before the court: 1. An affidavit from the person upon whom the papers were served, Michael Machupa, Jr.: 2. An affidavit from Paul E. Dixon: 3. A letter to the attorney for plaintiff from Deputy Sheriff James W. Dunlo who served the summons and complaint: In connection with the letter from Dunlo, counsel for plaintiff advised the court, "If you honor would like an affidavit *548 from the sheriff that says the same thing, I will put that in an affidavit and mail it back and have Mr. Dunlo who served these papers sign the affidavit." CR 60(b), which addresses relief from a judgment or order provides: If the court had no jurisdiction over Volvo because of a violation of RCW 4.28.080(10), the judgment is void. [2] Although in the view of the Court of Appeals, Mr. Machupa lacked the requisite authority to be served with process for Volvo Penta, the real question for an appellate court is whether the trial court acted properly in denying the motion to vacate the judgment. A motion to vacate a judgment under CR 60(b) is to be decided by the trial court in the exercise of its judgment and that decision will be overturned on appeal only when it plainly appears the court has abused its discretion. Haller v. Wallis, 89 Wn.2d 539, 573 P.2d 1302 (1978). From all that was before it, the trial court could have concluded that on this particular occasion Mr. Machupa in fact had been given authorization by Volvo Penta to receive service. While we, as did the Court of Appeals, might have reached a different conclusion, after examining the entire record we find the trial court in refusing to vacate the judgment did not abuse its discretion. Reversed. ROSELLINI and DORE, JJ., concur. DIMMICK, J. (concurring in the result) I concur in the result only, and not with the reasoning of the majority. I also agree with the dissent that the issue is whether the judgment is void for lack of personal jurisdiction. I would affirm the trial court's determination that proper *549 service was effectuated upon Mr. Machupa. At the time the trial court entered the default judgment against Volvo Penta it had apparent jurisdiction pursuant to the sheriff's return of service. However, Volvo subsequently challenged Mr. Machupa's authority to accept service on its behalf. At the time of hearing, the trial court had before it two affidavits asserting that Mr. Machupa was not authorized by the corporation. On the other hand, the plaintiff presented a letter from James Dunlo, the deputy sheriff who served the process, on the official letterhead of the sheriff in Chesapeake, Virginia. The letter unequivocally stated that Mr. Machupa had express authority from the corporation to accept the summons and complaint. Plaintiff's counsel told the court that he could get an affidavit stating the same thing if required to do so. The trial court accepted the letter rather than delaying the matter by waiting for a formal affidavit containing the same information. I will not substitute my judgment for that of the trial judge as to the wisdom of accepting that letter rather than a formal affidavit. He obviously concluded that the letter was reliable evidence and chose to accord it great weight. Upon review of the entire record before the trial court and the applicable law, I agree with the trial court that Mr. Machupa was a specially authorized agent of Volvo Penta expressly for the acceptance of this summons and complaint. Thus, I would reverse the Court of Appeals, which totally ignored the letter, and affirm the trial court. WILLIAMS and DORE, JJ., concur with DIMMICK, J. UTTER, J. (dissenting) The majority commits a fundamental error by reviewing the trial court's denial of Volvo's motion to vacate the default judgment in terms of whether or not such denial was an abuse of discretion. The majority is quite right in asserting that generally motions under CR 60(b) are left to the trial court's sound discretion. Haller v. Wallis, 89 Wn.2d 539, 573 P.2d 1302 (1978); Altman v. Connally, 456 F.2d 1114 (2d Cir.1972). As to most of the *550 many different grounds for vacating judgment, the trial court's decision should not be overturned without a showing of abuse of discretion. A motion that the judgment is void under CR 60(b)(5) is an exception to this rule of discretion, however. As the preeminent commentators on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure have said about Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(4) (the identical counterpart to our CR 60(b)(5)): 11 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice § 2862, at 197 (1973). See Jordon v. Gilligan, 500 F.2d 701 (6th Cir.1974), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 991, 44 L. Ed. 2d 481, 95 S. Ct. 1996 (1975); Hicklin v. Edwards, 226 F.2d 410 (8th Cir.1955); Shannon v. Norman Block, Inc., 106 R.I. 124, 256 A.2d 214 (1969). In a situation identical to the one presented here, the Ninth Circuit vacated a default judgment for lack of personal jurisdiction, stating it had a "nondiscretionary duty" to grant relief from the judgment. Thos. P. Gonzalez Corp. v. Consejo Nacional de Produccion de Costa Rica, 614 F.2d 1247, 1256 (9th Cir.1980). While our own cases have not explicitly recognized such a nondiscretionary duty, Washington cases involving motions to vacate because the judgment is void under CR 60(b)(5) implicitly recognize such a duty by failing to review the trial court's decision in terms of abuse of discretion. King Cy. v. Rea, 21 Wn.2d 593, 152 P.2d 310 (1944) (vacating lower court decree without reference to abuse of discretion); Metropolitan Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n v. Greenacres Mem. Ass'n, 7 Wn. App. 695, 502 P.2d 476 (1972) (recognizing the distinction between void *551 and voidable judgments). The question before us is not whether the trial court abused its discretion, but whether the judgment is void for lack of personal jurisdiction over Volvo. Turning to the merits of Volvo's motion, I would hold the Court of Appeals correctly found personal service upon Volvo was inadequate since Mr. Machupa, upon whom service had been rendered, was not shown to be an "agent" of the corporation. See Crose v. Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft, 88 Wn.2d 50, 558 P.2d 764 (1977); State ex rel. Western Can. Greyhound Lines, Ltd. v. Superior Court, 26 Wn.2d 740, 175 P.2d 640 (1946); Faucher v. Burlington N., Inc., 24 Wn. App. 711, 603 P.2d 844 (1979). The majority itself betrays allegiance to the Court of Appeals holding in its conjecture that it "might have reached a different conclusion" than the trial court had it addressed the merits of Volvo's claim. Majority opinion, at 548. We need not pose the question in the hypothetical; it is our responsibility to reach the question. Reviewing the law and the facts, I would hold the trial court did not have personal jurisdiction to issue its decree. That Volvo seeks vacation of a default judgment further compels us to vacate the judgment against Volvo. The court in Schwab v. Bullock's Inc., 508 F.2d 353 (9th Cir.1974) identified three policy concerns governing disposition of a motion to vacate a default judgment: 508 F.2d at 355. At this stage in the proceedings, Volvo does not even know if it made the engine for the boat which is the subject matter of Kennedy's contract claim. This case should be tried on the merits. I would affirm the unanimous Court of Appeals. BRACHTENBACH, C.J., and STAFFORD and PEARSON, JJ., concur with UTTER, J.