Eastern Pre-Cast Corp. v. Giant Portland Cement Co., Civ. A. No. 68-1567.
| Decision Date | 22 April 1970 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 68-1567. |
| Citation | 311 F. Supp. 896 |
| Parties | EASTERN PRE-CAST CORPORATION v. GIANT PORTLAND CEMENT COMPANY, Concrete Conduit Corporation, John D. Wilson. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
Marvin Comisky, Morris L. Weisberg, Richard P. McElroy, Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiff.
William T. Coleman, Jr., Louis M. Natali, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa., for defendants.
Defendant Concrete Conduit Corporation (hereafter "Defendant") has moved to dismiss on the grounds of improper venue. Section 12 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 22, provides:
"Any suit, action, or proceeding under the antitrust laws against a corporation may be brought not only in the judicial district whereof it is an inhabitant but also in any district wherein it may be found or transacts business; and all process in such cases may be served in the district of which it is an inhabitant, or wherever it may be found."
The term "transacts business" is used in its "ordinary and usual sense," United States v. Scophony Corp., 333 U.S. 795, 68 S.Ct. 855, 92 L.Ed. 1091 (1948) and requires "some amount of business continuity" and "more than a few isolated and peripheral contacts" with the district, Stern Fish Co. v. Century Seafoods, Inc., 254 F.Supp. 151 (E.D.Pa., 1966).
The only evidence before us are two affidavits and the deposition of Innis O'Rourke, Jr., Defendant's Vice-President. From these sources, it appears: Conduit has never had a bank account, leased, or owned property, had an agent or representative, or sold or delivered any merchandise in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. It is a New York corporation, with its principal place of business in Queens County, New York, and it has never been registered to do business in Pennsylvania. Ninety per cent of its sales are in New York.
On one occasion, when one of Defendant's salesmen was en route to Maryland, he stopped in to see a prospective but unidentified customer in Pennsylvania. We do not know where in Pennsylvania this prospective customer was located, or the date of the visit. On another occasion about five years ago, O'Rourke and his father stopped in Pennsylvania on the way to Florida "to see a man about a new way of making conduit." Three or four times in 1966 or 1967, Defendant's plant superintendent visited Eastern Pre-Cast to inspect and advise on their operation, on one of which visits a representative of Giant Portland Cement Company was...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
In re Chicken Antitrust Litigation
...836 (E.D.N.Y.1971); Illinois v. Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., 308 F.Supp. 1207 (N.D.Ill.1969); cf. Eastern Pre-Cast Corp. v. Giant Portland Cement Co., 311 F.Supp. 896 (E.D.Pa.1970); Philadelphia Housing Authority v. American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corp., 291 F.Supp. 252 (E.D.Pa.1968......
-
Daniel v. American Bd. of Emergency Medicine
...]." Bogus v. American Speech & Hearing Association, 389 F.Supp. 327, 329 (E.D.Pa.1975) (citing Eastern Pre-Cast Corporation v. Giant Portland Cement Company, 311 F.Supp. 896, 897 (E.D.Pa.1970)). Courts have found that a corporation transacts business within their forum jurisdictions when a ......
-
Fashion Two Twenty, Inc. v. Steinberg
...corporations in New York, may constitute the basis for the transaction of business within a state. Eastern Pre-Cast Corp. v. Giant Portland Cement Co., 311 F.Supp. 896 (E.D.Pa.1970); Philadelphia Housing Authority v. American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corp., 291 F.Supp. 252 (E.D.Pa.1968)......
-
Grappone, Inc. v. Subaru of America, Inc.
...by Importer's representatives are not sufficient to constitute the requisite degree of local contact. Eastern Pre-Cast Corp. v. Giant Portland Cement Co., 311 F.Supp. 896 (E.D.Pa.1970). Nor does the attendance of trade meetings in New Hampshire supply the requisite degree of local activity.......