A. & M. Trading Corp. v. Pennsylvania R. Co.

• Decision Date: 16 November 1953
• Docket Number: No. A--30,A--30
• Citation: 13 N.J. 516,100 A.2d 513
• Parties: A. & M. TRADING CORP. et al. v. PENNSYLVANIA R. CO. et al., and seventeen other cases.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

Page 516

13 N.J. 516

100 A.2d 513

A. & M. TRADING CORP. et al. v. PENNSYLVANIA R. CO. et al., and seventeen other cases.

No. A--30.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Argued Oct. 19, 1953.

Decided Nov. 16, 1953.

Harry E. Walburg, Newark, argued the cause for appellant Isbrandtsen Co., Inc. (Cox & Walburg, Newark, attorneys).

John A. Ackerman, Newark, argued the cause for respondents (Toner, Crowley, Woelper & Vanderbilt, Newark, attorneys for respondents A & M Trading Corp. and others, Susan Julia Andrechick and others, New Jersey Bell Tel. Co., Irene Schindel and others; Wilentz, Goldman, Spitzer & Sills, Perth Amboy, attorneys for respondents Ella Abegg and others, James F. Boncek and others, Una Christina Gumbs and others, Mary Chesman and others; Kristeller & Zucker, Newark, attorneys for respondents Bernard Ackerman and others, M & J Tracey, Inc., Vincent De Filippo and others; Stryker, Tams & Horner, Newark, attorneys for respondent American Agricultural Chemical Co., etc.; Louis J. Milano, South River, attorney for respondent Anna L. Marshall and others; John P. McGuire, Perth Amboy, attorney for respondents City of South Amboy and others; Shaw, Hughes & Pindar, Newark, attorneys for respondents Catherine Carrol Duggan, etc., and others; Jerome L. Yesko, Paterson, attorney for respondent Luke J. Lyons; Harry Lane, Jr., Newark, attorney for respondents Alfred Eckman and others; John C. Stockel, Perth Amboy, attorney for respondents George Manvel Applegate, Jr., etc., and others).

The opinion of the court was delivered by

WACHENFELD, J.

This appeal, taken under Rule 4:2--2(c), now R.R. 2:2--3(a)(3), is from an order made in the court below denying the motion of the appellant Isbrandtsen Company Inc., seeking (1) to set aside the service of summons and complaint upon Isbrandtsen in each cause of action; (2) a dismissal of the plaintiffs' complaints; (3) judgments in favor of Isbrandtsen. The cause was certified here on our own motion.

The appellant alleges it is immune from the service of process because on May 19, 1950 and subsequent thereto it performed no act and concluded no contract in New Jersey relating to the cause of action alleged against it, and its activities do not subject it to the jurisdiction of the court inasmuch as they do not constitute 'doing bisness' in this State.

Relief was denied upon the ground that Isbrandtsen was 'doing business' in this State at the time the summonses and complaints were filed and served.

There were motions directed to each of the many actions, but they are identical, were argued jointly below, and were disposed of by the entering of a single order. The cases were consolidated for the purpose of this appeal.

The suits sought recovery for personal injuries and property damage sustained as a result of 'a violent explosion of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines and dynamite in or about South Amboy, New Jersey,' caused by the alleged negligence of all the defendants in various particulars. The explosion was devastating and the magnitude and extent of the disaster is probably best illustrated by the fact that there were approximately 8,500 parties plaintiff, most of them residents of New Jersey.

Process was served upon Roy F. Pierce, treasurer of the defendant company, who was concededly an 'officer' of the defendant within the meaning of Rule 3:4--4(d), now R.R. 4:4--4(d) and a proper agent for service of process.

Isbrandtsen Company, Inc., hereinafter referred to as Isbrandtsen, is a corporation of the State of New York, with offices and principal place of business in New York City. For years it has been engaged as a common carrier in the steamship business. Its cargo vessels regularly ply between United States, European and Far Eastern ports; it does not engage in intercoastal shipping. Between May 1950 and July 1952 it owned and operated 15 cargo vessels, of which 12 were used in 'line service,' that is, regularly scheduled sailings in the Far East, round-the-world service, and in trans-Atlantic service. In that service it operated, during the period, six additional vessels which were either time-chartered or bare-boat-chartered.

Of the three remaining vessels owned by it, one, during the period in question, was operated in the transportation of cattle between the United States and foreign ports, and the remaining two were engaged in tramp bulk service. The appellant also acted as general agent in the operation of some 20 other vessels plying between the United States and foreign ports or between foreign ports exclusively. Isbrandtsen was not licensed to do business in the State of New Jersey, as provided by statute, nor did it have an office, telephone, records, or bank accounts within the State.

The company practically concedes that prior to May 1, 1950 and only a few weeks before the explosion it was 'present' in New Jersey, using docking facilities at Pier 3, Hoboken, as the terminal for its vessels. It asserts this arrangement terminated May 1, 1950 and that cargo was delivered to the last ship docking there by May 16, 1950. In effect, it admits it was doing business in the State of New Jersey up to that date.

Isbrandtsen contends after May 1, 1950 its vessles berthed at Pier 7, Bush Terminal, in Brooklyn, instead of as heretofore.

Within two years after the South Amboy accident, 17 vessels owned or chartered by Isbrandtsen made 18 calls at New Jersey ports. Of these, two were commercial visits made by time-chartered vessels discharging cargoes at Sayresville, New Jersey, for the National Lead Company. The rest of the vessels were engaged in transporting military cargoes for the Army under its direction, the loading of which was supervised by the Army, and one ship lay at anchor at the Navy Explosive Anchorage off Leonardo on the date of the explosion.

There were eight loadings at Caven's Point, four at Claremont Terminal, and three at Port Newark. Caven's Point is owned by the United States, which has accepted exclusive jurisdiction over it from the State of New Jersey. Claremont Terminal and Port Newark were subleased to the Army, which maintained offices and whose officers and men were present during the loading and handling of military cargo.

For the past 4 1/2 years the defendant has continued to employ John R. Strangfeld, a resident of Allendale, New Jersey, who occupies his time in the company's behalf in this State. Among his other duties, during the period in question he solicited general cargo, although the actual booking was done through a New York office. He contacted about 200 customers in New Jersey, seeking business, and described himself as 'contact man and public relations man.' In addition to courting new business, his efforts were bent toward keeping the customers happy, 'endeavoring to maintain their good will, to check their trend in business, the areas in which they may be doing business and with which we are not acquainted but possibly could render services and obtain cargo, * * * to see if their relations with Isbrandtsen Company are first rate, if there are any outstanding complaints they might have or if there is anything special that is desirable we are not doing and they prefer to have us do, and the general trend of cargo with them and business conditions in their various world markets.' He also discussed shortgages and claims with the customers, primarily to determine whether or not there was a shortage and ascertain if the company was at fault. He performed these functions regularly, averaging one day every two weeks in New Jersey during the entire period in question, being paid a salary plus expenses.

Additionally, there were maintenance operations and overhauls on Isbrandtsen's ships performed with a degree of regularity at the Todd and Bethlehem Steel Shipyards in Hoboken, New Jersey. Between the dates in question three vessels were present in New Jersey for maintenance and overhaul but there is a dispute as to whether the company specified the Todd Yard in Hoboken as its choice or whether the situs was determined entirely and independently by the repairing contractors.

Between May 1, 1950 and February 11, 1953 the appellant employed the services of the United New Jersey & Sandy Hook Pilots Beneficial Association on 15 occasions to pilot ships owned or chartered by it or for which it was acting as general agent to or from New Jersey docks and facilities, and the respondents insist the contracts between Isbrandtsen through its...