Arnstein v. Manufacturing Chemists Ass'n, Inc., Civ. A. No. 74-3323.

• Decision Date: 30 January 1976
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 74-3323.
• Parties: Rose Julia ARNSTEIN, Administratrix of the Estate of Reinhold Ralph Arnstein, Deceased v. MANUFACTURING CHEMISTS ASSOCIATION, INC., et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

414 F. Supp. 12

Rose Julia ARNSTEIN, Administratrix of the Estate of Reinhold Ralph Arnstein, Deceased v. MANUFACTURING CHEMISTS ASSOCIATION, INC., et al.

Civ. A. No. 74-3323.

United States District Court, E. D. Pennsylvania.

January 30, 1976.

Zygmont A. Pines, Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiff.

Alan J. Davis, David M. Doret, Wolf, Block, Schorr, Solis-Cohen, Philadelphia, Pa., for Mfg. Chemists Assn.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

FULLAM, District Judge.

Plaintiff brings this action to recover damages under the wrongful death and survival statutes of Pennsylvania for the death of Reinhold Arnstein. Plaintiff's decedent died December 31, 1973, of cancer, allegedly caused by his long-term exposure to excessive amounts of vinyl chloride, over many years of employment by various chemical companies. Named as defendants in the action are five chemical companies which employed the decedent at various times between 1956 and 1964, and between 1969 and 1972, and Manufacturing Chemists Association (hereinafter "MCA"), a non-profit trade association.

MCA now seeks dismissal of this action for lack of jurisdiction, and alternatively moves to dismiss the Complaint for failure to state a claim against MCA. The record discloses that MCA is a New York corporation having its offices in Washington, D. C. It has no office or other place of business in Pennsylvania. Its sole "contacts" with Pennsylvania are as follows: (1) Approximately 10 percent of its members (all of which are corporations which manufacture chemicals) are citizens of Pennsylvania; (2) these Pennsylvania members pay dues totaling approximately $200,000 annually; (3) various Pennsylvanians employed by member companies participate in the activities of MCA and its Standing Committees; (4) in a vaguely-described recent period of from one to two years ("since 1974") approximately four meetings of MCA committees have been held in Pennsylvania; (5) MCA communicates with its Pennsylvania members regarding MCA affairs; and (6) Pennsylvanians, both members and nonmembers, have received various MCA publications in Pennsylvania. (MCA does not solicit sales of its publications, but responds to requests for such publications virtually always on a prepaid basis. Requests for publications are accepted, processed, and filled by mail from the Washington office.)

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(e) permits service of process in accordance with ". . . a statute or rule of court of the state in which the district court is held . . .". The applicable Pennsylvania statute is 42 Purdon's Statutes Annotated § 8301 et seq. Section 8302 of that statute authorizes service upon the Pennsylvania Department of State with respect to "any foreign corporation which shall have done any business in this Commonwealth without procuring a certificate of authority to do so . . . in any action arising within this Commonwealth."

Section 8309 contains extremely broad definitions of "doing business" including "the doing of a single act in this Commonwealth for the purpose of thereby realizing pecuniary benefit or otherwise accomplishing an object;" and Subsection b of that section provides that, in addition, "the jurisdiction and venue of courts in this Commonwealth shall extend to all foreign corporations and the powers exercised by them to the fullest extent allowed under the Constitution of the United States . . .".

In the present case, there is no claim that the decedent was ever exposed to vinyl chloride in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or that any action of MCA within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania gave rise to plaintiff's cause of action. The most that can be gleaned from plaintiff's Complaint is a charge that plaintiff's decedent was a resident of Pennsylvania from July 1972 until his death on December 31, 1973, and that during that period MCA failed to disclose to him (or anyone else, including its own members) certain information then possessed by MCA concerning the dangers of exposure to vinyl chloride.

Thus, in the absence of controlling authority to the contrary, it would be possible to interpret the "in any action arising within the Commonwealth" language of § 8302 as inapplicable to the present case, since it seems reasonably clear that plaintiff's cause of action did not arise within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. However, in Siders v. Upper Mississippi Towing Corp., 423 F.2d 535 (3d Cir. 1970), the Court construed the quoted language as referring to any suit filed in Pennsylvania, regardless of where the cause of action arose. While this interpretation has not been universally acclaimed, see Sell, Annual Survey of Pennsylvania Legal Developments — Corporations, 46 Pa.Bar...