Ihlan v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company
| Decision Date | 15 June 1917 |
| Docket Number | 20,315 - (137) |
| Citation | 163 N.W. 283,137 Minn. 204 |
| Parties | RICHARD M. IHLAN v. CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Action in the district court for Rock county to recover $10,000 for injuries sustained while employed by defendant as locomotive fireman. Defendant appeared specially and moved to set aside the service of the summons. The motion was denied by Brill J. From an order denying that motion, defendant appealed. Affirmed.
Process -- service of summons on ticket agent -- railway receivership.
Defendant a foreign railway corporation owning and operating lines of railroad in this state, went into the hands of receivers. The court, in the order of receivership, directed the receivers to take possession of defendant's property and operate the railroad system as therefore operated, and also authorized them to prosecute and defend actions in the name of and for defendant, if, in their judgment, such actions might affect the property of defendant. The ticket and freight agents of defendant, who were such when the receivers were appointed, were retained. Held, the service of the summons herein upon a ticket and freight agent so retained was valid.
Stringer & Seymour, for appellant.
Samuel A. Anderson, for respondent.
The appeal is from an order denying defendant's motion to set aside the service of the summons. In December, 1914, defendant, a corporation organized under the laws of the state of Illinois, owned and operated a line of railway from Watertown, South Dakota, to Ellsworth in this state. Plaintiff, one of defendant's employees, claiming to have received an injury through defendant's negligence while engaged in transporting an interstate freight train in said month between the points mentioned, brought this action on November 28, 1916, by serving the summons on the ticket and freight agent at Luverne, a station on defendant's line of railway in this state. It appears that on April 20, 1915, the Federal court placed defendant in the hands of receivers, and when the summons was served Jacob M. Dickenson of Chicago, Illinois, was the sole receiver in possession of all the property of the defendant and operating its lines of railway in the same manner as defendant itself had done previous to the receivership. When the change was made the ticket and freight agent at Luverne, together with the other employees of defendant, were notified to continue their services.
Section 7736, G.S. 1913, provides for the effective service of summons upon railway companies in this manner: "In any action or proceeding against a railway company, whether domestic or foreign, including proceedings under the right of eminent domain, service of the summons and of all notices required to be served therein, may be made by delivering a copy thereof to any ticket or freight agent of such company within the county in which the action or proceeding is begun."
An examination of the order placing the property and business of defendant in the hands of receivers discloses that the purpose is not to dissolve the corporation, for the lines of its railway are to be operated as before. It was therefore anticipated that the receivership may be but a temporary expedient. The receivers are also to act in a dual capacity, so to speak, for the order, while providing for carrying on the transportation business during the receivership period, also authorizes them to institute and prosecute suits in their name, or in the name of the railway company for the protection of the property of the company "and to appear in and conduct the prosecution or defense of or compromise or settle any actions, proceedings or suits now pending or which may hereafter be brought in any court or before any officer, department, commission or tribunal, to which the railway company is or shall be a party, which in the judgment of said receivers affect or may affect property of which they are hereby appointed receivers, but no payments shall be made by said receivers in respect of any such suits, actions or proceedings, other than suits relating to wages of employees, personal injuries or damages to property in transit or damages caused by fire in the operation of the railroads, without the further order or direction of this court; and no action taken by the receivers in the defense or settlement of any such actions or suits against the railway company shall have the effect of establishing any claim upon or right in the property or funds in the possession of the receivers so as to alter or change any existing equities or legal rights of the parties." If the receivers thus act in a dual capacity, that is, as receivers from the time they qualified and also in defending and prosecuting for and in the name of the corporation all causes of actions, actions, or proceedings existing prior to their appointment which may affect its property, it would seem to follow that the ticket and freight agents, whom the receivers retained at the stations of the railway lines, represent both receivers and corporation for the...
To continue reading
Request your trial