Opinion ID: 2606799
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: I concur with the holding of the majority that the court had jurisdiction of Ford. In this connection the record discloses that from the outset Ford resisted and continues to resist the action here on the ground that as a non-qualified foreign corporation it was not subject to the jurisdiction of the court. The contention presents an important question and in disposing of the matter we first turn to pertinent portions of the record. It appears from the record that the only service of process made upon Ford was personal service of summons upon E.F. Nieman, one of its employees, while the said Nieman was in attendance at the opening of a new Ford agency at Evanston, Wyoming. A timely motion to quash the return of service of summons was filed by Ford on the ground that it is a foreign corporation; owns no property in Wyoming; has not and does not now transact business within this state; and has no agent, officer, or other person here upon whom process can be served. Attached to the said motion is the affidavit of Nieman, which in substance recites that he is employed by Ford as General Field Manager of the Salt Lake District Sales Office and his assigned duties are promotion of sales of the products of Ford, including therein arrangement for and the handling of relations with independent Ford dealers of Ford products within his district; also, that he is not an officer of Ford and has no duties in connection with claims against Ford. Counter-affidavits were filed by plaintiff, which in substance set forth that Evanston, Wyoming, is within the area of which Nieman has charge and that on the date in question Nieman was in attendance and carrying out his duties at the grand opening of Aaron Brothers Ford Service, a newly-authorized dealer of Ford products at Evanston, Wyoming. Also present was an assistant to Nieman. Public announcement of the event was made by both Ford and Aaron Brothers. The matter was submitted on said affidavits and after hearing argument thereon the trial court denied the motion. Our task in reviewing the action so taken by the trial court is made difficult by the paucity of the evidence relating to the activities of Ford in this state. This for the reason that mere service of summons upon Nieman within the state did not in and of itself confer jurisdiction upon the trial court. See Long v. Victor Products Corporation, 8 Cir., 297 F.2d 577, 581; Easterling v. Cooper Motors, Inc., D.C.N.C., 26 F.R.D. 1, 2; West Pub. Co. v. Superior Court of City and County of San Francisco, 20 Cal.2d 720, 128 P.2d 777, certiorari denied 317 U.S. 700, 63 S.Ct. 524, 87 L.Ed. 559; and Minty v. Draper & Company, Inc., D.C. Wyo., 57 F.2d 551, 553. To validate the service it must also appear that Ford, as a foreign corporation, was at the time of service engaging in activities within the state sufficient to make it amenable to jurisdiction of the court from which the process issued. The problem presented is in two parts. It must first be ascertained whether or not applicable state law means to encompass the challenged service. If this can be answered in the affirmative, then the further question presented is whether or not the state law as applied to the circumstances of the case offends the due process clause of the Federal Constitution. See Lone Star Motor Import, Inc., v. Citroen Cars Corp., 5 Cir., 288 F.2d 69, 72. As has often been said, each case must depend upon its own facts (International Harvester Company v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, 234 U.S. 579, 34 S.Ct. 944, 945, 58 L.Ed. 1479), and the burden rests upon the plaintiff to establish that Ford was doing business in the state at the time service of process was made. See Confidential, Inc. v. Superior Court In and For Los Angeles County, 157 Cal. App.2d 75, 320 P.2d 546, 549; and Kesler v. Schetky Equipment Corporation, D.C.Cal., 200 F. Supp. 678, 679. In our approach we prefer first to discuss the limitations of the Federal Constitution laid upon state jurisdiction over a foreign corporation. A myriad of cases and treatises deal with the subject matter (for example see 25 U.Chi.L.Rev. 569; 73 Harv. L.Rev. 909; and 44 Iowa L.Rev. 249); but extensively to review the material would unduly extend this opinion. Suffice it to say that a great evolution in the law has occurred between Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U.S. 714, 24 L.Ed. 565, and the most recent case from the United States Supreme Court of Hanson v. Denckla, 357 U.S. 235, 78 S.Ct. 1228, 2 L.Ed.2d 1283, rehearing denied 358 U.S. 858, 79 S.Ct. 10, 3 L.Ed.2d 92. The evolution had its genesis in the classic case of International Shoe Company v. State of Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 158, 159, 160, 90 L.Ed. 95. It would therefore seem appropriate to set forth some of the pronouncements of that case. In the course of the opinion it is said: Historically the jurisdiction of courts to render judgment in personam is grounded on their de facto power over the defendant's person. Hence his presence within the territorial jurisdiction of a court was prerequisite to its rendition of a judgment personally binding him. Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U.S. 714, 733, 24 L.Ed. 565. But now that the capias ad respondendum has given way to personal service of summons or other form of notice, due process requires only that in order to subject a defendant to a judgment in personam, if he be not present within the territory of the forum, he have certain minimum contacts with it such that the maintenance of the suit does not offend `traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.' [Citations.]       It is evident that the criteria by which we mark the boundary line between those activities which justify the subjection of a corporation to suit, and those which do not, cannot be simply mechanical or quantitative. The test is not merely, as has sometimes been suggested, whether the activity, which the corporation has seen fit to procure through its agents in another state, is a little more or a little less. [Citations.] Whether due process is satisfied must depend rather upon the quality and nature of the activity in relation to the fair and orderly administration of the laws which it was the purpose of the due process clause to insure. That clause does not contemplate that a state may make binding a judgment in personam against an individual or corporate defendant with which the state has no contacts, ties, or relations. [Citations.] But to the extent that a corporation exercises the privilege of conducting activities within a state, it enjoys the benefits and protection of the laws of that state. The exercise of that privilege may give rise to obligations; and, so far as those obligations arise out of or are connected with the activities within the state, a procedure which requires the corporation to respond to a suit brought to enforce them can, in most instances, hardly be said to be undue. [Citations.] Clearly old concepts were swept away. A new era dawned for permissive reach of in personam jurisdiction by the courts of the states. However, one difficulty with the case is that although it speaks of requisite contacts, ties or relations, and sets forth the factors that were said to establish minimal contacts for purposes of the case, it furnished little guide as to how the interplay of those or other factors might rationally be utilized in reaching a sound result under other circumstances. Appellee suggests that McGee v. International Life Insurance Co., 355 U.S. 220, 78 S.Ct. 199, 2 L.Ed.2d 223, reduced the necessities to activities of a single transaction, but we hardly think this is tenable. In the first instance, it has been said that it did nothing more than to uphold a California statute similar to our own non-resident motor vehicle statute. See Kesler v. Schetky Equipment Corporation, supra. But if McGee v. International Life Insurance Co., supra, did intimate a trend for abolition of state lines in the matter, it was soon dispelled by the more recent case of Hanson v. Denckla, supra. In this case it was said at 78 S.Ct. 1238:    But it is a mistake to assume that this trend heralds the eventual demise of all restrictions on the personal jurisdiction of state courts. See Vanderbilt v. Vanderbilt, 354 U.S. 416, 418, 77 S.Ct. 1360, 1362, 1 L.Ed.2d 1456. Those restrictions are more than a guarantee of immunity from inconvenient or distant litigation. They are a consequence of territorial limitations on the power of the respective States. However minimal the burden of defending in a foreign tribunal, a defendant may not be called upon to do so unless he has had the `minimal contacts' with that State that are a prerequisite to its exercise of power over him.    In any event, it seems clear to us that under the pronouncements made there emerges the general rule that so long as the activities of a foreign corporation are sufficiently qualitative in nature and extent reasonably to show minimal contacts with the state and state law on the subject is justly construed and applied to reach those activities for jurisdictional purposes under traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice, all demands of due process are satisfied. With the foregoing concepts in mind, we return to the record made of Ford's activities here. Aided by those matters of which we take judicial notice, it is reasonable to conclude that Ford entered into a dealer relationship with Aaron Brothers of Evanston, Wyoming, for promotion and sale of its products in Wyoming; that such arrangement for all intents and purposes was a continuing one; that the arrangement so made was in keeping with the state-wide practice of Ford for promotion and sale of its products in Wyoming through such dealers; by such arrangement Ford hopes to obtain and does obtain substantial benefits, financial and otherwise; that in pursuit of its business it sends agents and employees into the state to aid and assist its authorized dealers and we would be blinded to actualities to suppose that the activities shown at Evanston, Wyoming, were sporadic and isolated instances of the aggressive marketing practices of Ford in Wyoming; and lastly Ford and its agents and employees while here are protected by the laws of Wyoming. In conjunction therewith and in disposing of Ford's contention, we have also considered other pertinent factors, such as: the interest of this state in providing a forum for its residents; the relative availability of evidence; the relative burden of defense and prosecution in Wyoming rather than at some other place; the ease of access to some alternative forum; and the extent to which the cause of action arises out of Ford's local activities. In view of the foregoing and in view of the broadened concept of in personam jurisdiction of the state under the due process clause of the Federal Constitution, it seems clear that the record here was ample to permit the trial court to find and conclude, as it did, that the activities of Ford in this state were, in nature and extent, sufficient to satisfy federal requirements with respect to the matter. This brings us then to a consideration of the applicable law of Wyoming. The statute involved, § 17-44, W.S. 1957, and now superseded by Ch. 85, § 105, S.L. of Wyoming, 1961, provided in essence That whenever any foreign corporation transacts business in this state without first qualifying, it shall be amenable to lawful process issuing out of a state court in any action or proceedings against said foreign corporation growing out of the transaction of any business in this state. With respect to the jurisdictional question, Ford contends that it was not in fact transacting business here within the meaning of the statute and that under any circumstance plaintiff has failed to meet the burden of proof necessary to sustain jurisdiction. In disposing of the contention it is necessary first to consider just what was intended as the criteria necessary to establish the transaction of business for purposes of the statute. In this we are not aided by legislative definition, and previous decisions of this court are not particularly helpful. In State ex rel. Eaton v. Hirst, 53 Wyo. 163, 79 P.2d 489, 496; Chittim v. Belle Fourche Bentonite Products Co., 60 Wyo. 235, 149 P.2d 142, 148; and Creamery Package Manufacturing Co. v. Cheyenne Ice Cream Co., 55 Wyo. 277, 100 P.2d 116, 122, we had occasion to consider the activities that go to establish doing business under the non-suit statute. In Creamery Package Manufacturing Co. v. State Board of Equalization, 62 Wyo. 265, 166 P.2d 952, 955, we considered the matter under the Sales and Use Tax Act. But tests applied for purposes of a penal regulatory statute or taxation statutes are of little assistance to the problem of enforcing civil process. See Jarrard Motors Inc. v. Jackson Auto & Supply Co., 237 Miss. 660, 115 So.2d 309. Obviously the statute had for its purpose, whenever possible, the furnishing of a local forum to residents of this state who had a grievance against a non-qualified foreign corporation growing out of its business activities here. It seems apparent also that to accomplish its purpose the legislature purposely prescribed a broad standard in order that the statute might receive a reasonable interpretation in keeping with advancements in the law relating thereto and developments in the field of commercial enterprise. In applying the statute such matters are of prime importance. Hoffmeister v. McIntosh, Wyo., 361 P.2d 678, rehearing denied Wyo., 364 P.2d 823. Also, no citation of authority is necessary to support the proposition that the statute, being remedial, is entitled to a liberal interpretation. Actually, the term transacts business is not susceptible to determination by application of any hard and fast rule and it is not possible for us to supply a ready formula dispositive of the many complexities that are presented in dealing with the question. It seems clear, however, that the term would not embrace casual, isolated, or sporadic transactions of limited duration and extent but beyond that the matter must be determined largely according to the facts of each individual case. 20 C.J.S. Corporations § 1920a, p. 151; International Shoe Company v. State of Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 159, 90 L.Ed. 95. We are cited to many cases in the briefs of counsel to sustain their respective positions and certain it is that divergent results have been reached. However, in view of what has already been said, a lengthy discussion of the cases so cited would seem to serve no particular purpose. It is enough to say that such authorities and others have been reviewed and in this regard we think cases such as Cosper v. Smith & Wesson Arms Co., 53 Cal.2d 77, 346 P.2d 409; Regie Nationale des Usines Renault, Billancourt (Seine), France, v. Superior Court In and For Sacramento County, Cal. App., 25 Cal. Rptr. 530, 531; Amphicar Corp. of America v. Gregstad Distributing Corp., Fla.App., 138 So.2d 383, 384, 385; Lone Star Motor Import, Inc. v. Citroen Cars Corp., 5 Cir., 288 F.2d 69, 72; and Jarrard Motors, Inc. v. Jackson Auto & Supply Co., supra, are illustrative of activities that can reasonably be said to constitute the transaction of business within a state. Of course, Ford's activities here as above related differ to some extent from the activities shown in the foregoing cases but nevertheless there is substantial similarity in many respects. Were we to conclude that the statute before us was so restrictive that it failed to impose jurisdiction over a foreign corporation that engages here in activities of the quality and extent shown on the part of Ford, we think we would do violence to the plain intent and purpose of the statute. In fact, we find nothing in the statute that indicates a purpose other than to assert jurisdiction over a non-qualified corporation to the extent authorized by the due process clause. For the reasons stated we agree with the trial court that a reasonable and just interpretation of the statute, when applied to Ford's activities within this state, brought Ford within its reach for jurisdictional purposes and inasmuch as plaintiff's complaint was based upon a local incident growing out of those activities, the trial court was fully warranted in asserting its jurisdiction. Ford further insists that even though we conclude that it was subject to the jurisdiction of the trial court, it was never properly served with summons. The contention is bottomed upon the further provisions of § 17-44, W.S. 1957, that relate to service of process. In substance the statute provides under circumstances here that service may be made by leaving a copy of the summons with the secretary of state and the mailing of a notice of such service and copy of the process by registered mail to the defendant corporation or that service of process may be made by delivery thereof to the corporation outside the state. The foregoing statute was enacted in the year 1929. Subsequent to that time we adopted Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule 4(d) (4) thereof provides in part: Upon a corporation, by delivery of copies to any officer, manager, general agent, or agent for process. If no such officer, manager or agent can be found in the county in which the action is brought such copies may be delivered to any agent or employee found in such county.    It will be noticed that this substantially departs from Rule 4(d) (3) of the Federal Rules, from which our rules were taken. The return here shows that there was no officer, manager, general agent, or agent for process found in Wyoming and that as a consequence service was made on Nieman, an agent or employee who was found in Uinta County. With respect to Nieman, the trial court on the evidence before it was entitled to find and apparently did find that even though Nieman was not authorized by Ford to accept service, his position of responsibility was such that the process served upon him reasonably afforded opportunity to Ford to defend in the action. We think the method of service set forth in the statute is not exclusive and that the method provided by our rules must be considered in conjunction with and cumulative of the method of service upon non-qualified foreign corporations. Toedman v. Nooter Corporation, 180 Kan. 703, 308 P.2d 138, 143. Ford relies principally upon Fletcher, Cyclopedia of Corporations (Perm.Ed.), and upon Goodman v. Leitman, 20 Misc.2d 549, 194 N.Y.S.2d 561, but those authorities do not seem apropos. As we pointed out, the provision of the rules is cumulative and therefore may be utilized and such alternative method apparently was not present or considered in the authorities cited. Due process requires only that the representative served be a responsible representative of the foreign corporation. Perkins v. Benguet Consolidated Mining Co., 342 U.S. 437, 72 S.Ct. 413, 418, 96 L.Ed. 485, rehearing denied 343 U.S. 917, 72 S.Ct. 645, 96 L.Ed. 1332.