Hudson v. Georgia Casualty Co.

• Decision Date: 12 February 1932
• Docket Number: No. 2082.,2082.
• Citation: 57 F.2d 757
• Parties: HUDSON v. GEORGIA CASUALTY CO. et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Louisiana

57 F.2d 757 (1932)

HUDSON v. GEORGIA CASUALTY CO. et al.

No. 2082.

District Court, W. D. Louisiana, Monroe Division.

February 12, 1932.

Hudson, Potts, Bernstein & Sholars, of Monroe, La., for plaintiff.

Madison & Madison, of Monroe, La., Jackson & Smith, of Shreveport, La., and Harry McCall and Denegre, Leovy & Chaffe, all of New Orleans, La., for defendants.

DAWKINS, District Judge.

Plaintiff filed this suit in the state court for the purpose of collecting from the defendant Georgia Casualty Company, to whose liabilities the Public Indemnity Company, a New Jersey corporation, has succeeded, as the insurer of George A. Schlosser, a citizen of this district and state, the amount of a judgment, interest, and costs previously obtained against the latter for injuries received in an automobile accident near Monticello, Ark. He alleges that the judgment, rendered on the 22d day of June, 1931, was for the sum of $7,077.65, and is now final as to Schlosser; that execution has been issued thereon and returned nulla bona; that the defendant in the present suit had insured the said Schlosser against liability for injuries to others, and that the said policy was in force when the accident happened; that defendants acknowledged the validity of said policy, took charge of and conducted the defense of the suit in which the judgment was rendered in the state court; that, after its rendition, petitioner is informed that the defendants notified Schlosser that all liability under the policy was denied and no appeal was taken therefrom. Further, that the defendant Public Indemnity Company is a nonresident corporation, duly authorized to do business in this state, has appointed the secretary of state as agent for service of process; that the American Surety Company of New York is the surety on the bond which was required to be filed with the secretary of state in qualifying to do business here; that the said American Surety Company has likewise complied with the laws of Louisiana and designated the secretary of state as its agent for service of legal process; and that petitioner is informed the said bond was for the sum of $50,000. He prays for judgment in the full amount rendered against Schlosser in the state court, interest, and costs.

Defendant filed an exception of no cause of action, a plea to the jurisdiction, and, in the alternative, an exception to the venue.

In brief, counsel for defendants state their position as follows:

"First: Service of process upon this defendant, a foreign corporation, through the Secretary of State of Louisiana, confers no jurisdiction in a suit for damages on account of personal injuries arising outside of the state, the appointment of the Secretary of State as agent for service of process being limited by law to causes of action arising in Louisiana."

"Second: In the alternative, in the event the Court should hold that this defendant is amenable to suit within the borders of the state on a cause of action arising outside of the state, there is no law in Louisiana that gives the Fourth Judicial District Court in the Parish of Ouachita jurisdiction of a suit for damages on account of personal injuries sustained in Arkansas and this defendant could only be sued in such case at its Louisiana domicile in the Parish of East Baton Rouge."

I believe that all of the issues involved herein, except the point that the accident from which the injury resulted happened outside the state, have been decided adversely to the contention of the defendants by the courts of...