Opinion ID: 1860025
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Common Law Allowed This Suit

Text: The majority would have us believe that the repeal of sec. 79-1-27 deprives our state courts of jurisdiction in cases such as this one, notwithstanding the fact that the repealed statute is not even mentioned in Shewbrooks. The predecessor to sec. 79-1-27 was enacted in 1906, and was not in existence when Pullman Palace was decided. The only way to ascertain the effect of the repeal of sec. 79-1-27 is to look at the state of the common law prior to the enactment of the statute. Hence we may look to Pullman to see what the common law was prior to enactment of sec. 79-1-27: (W)e had supposed there was, in our own state, no ground left for dispute that, in transitory actions, whether in tort or in contract, our courts were wide open to any suitor, resident or nonresident, against his adversary, whether resident or nonresident, whether a natural person or an artificial one, regardless of where the right of action occurred, if only the courts had jurisdiction of the subject-matter, and could obtain jurisdiction of the party, either a voluntary appearance, or by service of process. We are aware that there is some divergence of opinion on this subject between the courts of last resort in this country, and that apparent authority can be found for holding that a foreign corporation resident in one state may not be sued in another state by a resident of the first state on a cause of action arising in the first state. But even these cases will be found to be governed by the peculiar statutes of the state declining to take jurisdiction, or that the refusal to take jurisdiction rested upon some unusual circumstances which deterred the court from entertaining the suit, or because of a supposed distinction between statutory rights and common law rights. But in many states, and amongst them our own, the rule we first announced has been firmly established by repeated adjudications. The rule was first expressly declared in our own state in the case of the New Orleans, Jackson, & Great Northern Railroad Co. v. Wallace, 50 Miss. 244 [1874]. That was an action brought by Wallace against the railroad company, a foreign corporation, in one of the courts of this state, for the recovery of damages for injuries sustained by him in a collision of trains in the State of Louisiana. The court said then, on this very question: Corporations are artificial persons, existing only in contemplation of law. They must dwell in the place of their creation, and cannot migrate to another state. But they are liable to be sued, like natural persons, in transitory actions arising ex contractu or ex delicto, in any state where legal process can be had... . In transitory actions, foreign private corporations, like natural persons, may be sued anywhere where the court can obtain jurisdiction of the corporation either by legal service of process or by its appearance by attorney. Whether Wallace was a citizen of or resident of Mississippi nowhere appears in the reported case, and that fact must have been thought by the court to be wholly immaterial to a proper determination of the question of the amenability of a foreign corporation, for a wrong done in a foreign state, to the jurisdiction of our courts. Pullman Palace 74 Miss. at 796-97, 22 So. 53 (emphasis added). Thus we can easily see that prior to enactment of the statute, a lawsuit such as the one brought by Fox in the instant case was permissible in Mississippi. From there it is a short hop to reach the conclusion that the statute was not necessary, and therefore the repeal of the statute does not affect Fox's right to sue in the courts of our state. Nowhere in Shewbrooks is sec. 79-1-29 even mentioned. This court did not feel that the statute was necessary for jurisdiction over the foreign corporation, for the reason that the corporation was doing business in our state, and should rightfully be subject to our jurisdiction. Thus we can conclude that the repeal of sec. 79-1-27 does not affect Fox's right to bring his action to our courts. The majority would have us distinguish Aycock and Arrow Food because the plaintiffs in those cases were all Mississippi residents. However, the residence of the plaintiff does not determine the court's exercise of jurisdiction; we already know that the statute relied upon by the majority was not necessary for jurisdiction over a foreign corporation doing business in our state, and thus the repeal of the unnecessary statute should not make any difference. This is especially evident in light of the emphasized portion of Pullman Palace quoted above and in light of Wallace cited therein. Indeed, it wasn't even noted which state the plaintiff Wallace resided in, the court not thinking enough of this issue to even mention it in its reported decision. The failure to mention the residence of the plaintiff was the norm, and not the exception, in the early Mississippi decisions on the question of jurisdiction over a foreign corporation found to actually be doing business within the borders of our state. Besides Pullman Palace and Wallace, the cases of Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans Railroad Co. v. Doyle, 60 Miss. 977 (1883), and McMaster v. Illinois Central Railroad Co., 65 Miss. 264, 4 So. 59 (1887) also dealt with transitory causes of action brought in the courts of this state against railroads for damages allegedly suffered in other states, and in neither of the reported decisions is the plaintiff's state of residence even mentioned. Thus we can readily see that Mississippi has traditionally enforced its jurisdiction over foreign corporations found to be doing business in our state, regardless of the residence of the plaintiff and regardless of the location of the cause of action. Cases which predate the repealed statute apply the same standard of law that this court applied in Shewbrooks, and I conclude that this state has jurisdiction over the case at bar unless we are today prepared to overrule Shewbrooks, Pullman Palace, Wallace, Doyle, and McMaster. This I am not prepared to do.