Court Opinion

ID: 9588159
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:30:55.7712+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:56:13.852810
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
Counsel for defendant in error contends that his client has not had his day in court and that this opinion inflicts a great injustice upon him. While the result reached places the defendant in error in the unfortunate position of having to pay for the negligence of its employee, a contrary opinion by the court would have resulted in grave injustice to a plaintiff who had complied with every duty placed upon him by the law under which he was proceeding.
It is agreed that the provisions of the nonresident motorist act we are here considering meet the constitutional requirements of due process. It is agreed that the plaintiff complied strictly with every detail of the law. The only missing link in the chain of notice is the failure of the defendant’s employee who had signed for and received the registered letter containing the notice to give the same to an officer or agent of the corporation. According to the contention of the defendant, the plaintiff would be required to follow the registered letter after receipt by the employee from the post office and see that it came into actual physical possession of the proper officer of the defendant corporation. The law places no such burden on the plaintiff.
The defendant’s unfortunate position is not the result of the law or the interpretation of it by this court. It is due solely to the human frailty of its own employee. That a corporation must suffer economic loss due to the negligence of one of its employees is not a new theory of law.

Rehearing denied.