Allison v. Mennonite Publications Board

• Decision Date: 19 August 1954
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 11645.
• Citation: 123 F. Supp. 23
• Parties: ALLISON v. MENNONITE PUBLICATIONS BOARD.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

123 F. Supp. 23

ALLISON v. MENNONITE PUBLICATIONS BOARD.

Civ. No. 11645.

United States District Court, W. D. Pennsylvania.

August 19, 1954.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Mahlon E. Lewis, Pittsburgh, Pa., for plaintiff.

John C. Bane, Jr., and David McNeil Olds (of Reed, Smith, Shaw & McClay), Pittsburgh, Pa., for defendant.

GOURLEY, Chief Judge.

It appears that on August 12, 1953, the plaintiffs, citizens of Missouri, instituted the above action against the Mennonite Publication Board, an Indiana corporation, doing business under the name of the Mennonite Publishing House, at Scottdale, Pennsylvania, in the Western District of Pennsylvania. The plaintiffs' Complaint alleged that in June, August, and October of 1952, the defendant printed, published, and distributed throughout the United States 10,500 copies of a book entitled, "Life With Life" which contained numerous libelous statements against the plaintiffs and constituted an unlawful invasion of plaintiffs' right to privacy.

This matter comes before the court on defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment, Rule 56, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A.

Defendant's motion is premised upon the thesis that the complaint has failed to state a cause of action in that the Mennonite Publication Board is a charitable non-profit corporation and as such is not subject to legal liability for plaintiffs' damages.

A motion for summary judgment should not be granted if there is an issue presented as to the existence of any material fact, Sarnoff v. Ciaglia, 3 Cir., 165 F.2d 167; and in considering such a motion, the court should take the view of the evidence most favorable to the party against whom it is directed, giving to that party the benefit of all favorable inferences that may be drawn from the evidence. Ramsouer v. Midland Valley R. Co., 8 Cir., 135 F.2d 101.

Under generally recognized conflict of laws principles, the substantive law to be applied in a tort action is that of the place of wrong, the lex loci delicti, or in other words, the place where the defamatory statement is communicated. Restatement, Conflict of Laws, Section 377(5); Sweeney v. Philadelphia Record Co., 3 Cir., 126 F.2d 53; Kilian v. Stackpole Sons, Inc., D.C., 98 F.Supp. 500; Preveden v. Croation Fraternal Union of America, D.C., 98 F. Supp. 784.

The booklets in question were distributed in Missouri and Pennsylvania. The fact that the Mennonite Publication Board was incorporated in Indiana could in no way prove controlling as to the imposition of liability upon a charitable organization, in view of the fact that the rule of charitable immunity has been held to be a strong public policy of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Bond v. City of Pittsburgh, 368 Pa. 404, 84 A.2d 328.

A foreign law or a statute of another state will not be enforced in the courts of a state where a cause of action in tort arises under the doctrine of comity, where the law of the foreign state is contrary to the public policy of the state where the cause of action arises. Gray v. Blight, 10 Cir., 112 F.2d 696; 21 C.J.S., Courts, § 545; Griffin v. McCoach, 313 U.S. 498, 61 S.Ct. 1023, 85 L.Ed. 1481; Hughes v. Lucker, 3 Cir., 174 F.2d 285; Hartwell v. Piper Aircraft Corp., 3 Cir., 186 F.2d 29; Magee v. McNany, D.C., 10 F.R.D. 5, 12.

Accordingly, I must conclude that the law of Pennsylvania and Missouri, the locale wherein the alleged torts were committed, must be applied to the instant proceeding.

It is a doctrine too well established to be shaken, and as unequivocally declared in Pennsylvania as in any other state, that a public charity cannot be made liable for the tort of its servants. Fire Insurance Patrol v. Boyd, 120 Pa. 624, 15 A. 553, 1 L.R.A. 417; Gable v. Sisters of St. Francis, 227 Pa. 254, 75 A. 1087; Siidekum, Adm'r v. Animal Rescue League of Pittsburgh, 353 Pa. 408, 45 A.2d 59; Betts v. Young Men's Christian Association of Erie, 83 Pa. Super. 545; Paterlini v. Memorial Hospital Ass'n of Monongahela City, 3 Cir., 247 F. 639.

A review in detail of the Missouri law on this question would prove superfluous. Suffice it to say, that Missouri has the same public policy against liability of charitable corporations for torts as does Pennsylvania, and plaintiffs' position could in no way be strengthened by invoking the substantive law of that state. Hinman v. Berkman (United Jewish Appeal), D.C., 85 F.Supp. 2.

The crucial question for determination, in the present motion, is whether defendant is a "charity" within the meaning of the rule of charitable immunity.

The primary facts have been stipulated between the parties and amply lend themselves to resolving the issue:

1. The defendant is a non-profit corporation, incorporated March 31, 1908 under the laws of the State of Indiana and duly registered and qualified to engage in business in Pennsylvania as a foreign non-profit corporation. The original capital of the defendant, namely, $16,953.59, was contributed by members of the Mennonite Church. Under the Corporate Charter the defendant corporation is managed by a Board of Trustees constituted as follows: Each Mennonite and Amish Mennonite Conference in North America shall have the privilege to choose one member, and the General Conference shall have the privilege to choose three members. Each shall hold office for the term of two years or until their successors are duly elected and installed.

2. Article 2 of the Articles of Incorporation provides that "The object of this Association shall be to establish, own and control a church publication house for the publication and dissemination of the literature of the Mennonite churches to awaken a greater interest in good literature, advance the cause of Christ and promote unity of faith in the church."

3. The defendant owns real estate located in Scottdale, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, where it maintains its printing plant and publishing headquarters. It also owns bookstores in Souderton, Pennsylvania; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Goshen, Indiana and Kitchener, Ontario. The real estate holdings of the defendant are taxed by the municipalities in which they are located.

4. The defendant corporation is exempt from Federal income taxes under Section 101(6) of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C.A. § 101(6), and contributions made to it are deductible by the donors under Section 23 (o) and (q).

5. Most of the several books and publications of the defendant are sold at a price which will return something more than the costs of production and distribution to the defendant. Some of the defendant's publications, however, are sold at a loss and some are given away. Bibles and concordances and other standard religious items, such as maps of the Holy Land, printed by other publishing houses and sold by others, are distributed and sold by the defendant. These constitute a small portion of defendant's total sales.

6. The defendant publishes approximately twenty periodical publications, all of which are of a religious character. Two of these publications accept advertising of products produced by members of the Mennonite Church or which are of special interest to the homes and congregations of the members of the Mennonite Church. The defendant does not advertise its own publications generally except that it has advertised particular publications in religious periodicals.

7. Since its incorporation the defendant has realized a net gain in that the aggregate moneys received from its operations have exceeded the aggregate costs of those operations. The net gains so realized have been used only (1) to provide for the improvement, expansion and replacement of the publishing facilities of the Board; and (2) to provide contributions to the Mennonite Church.

8. The original capital contribution grew substantially from the date of incorporation until 1941. In the period from 1941 to 1951 the defendant spent over $700,000 for capital additions, principally for additional machinery, real estate and buildings. Of this amount approximately one-half came from reserves built up by accumulations of net gains from prior operations and the other...