Mueller v. Steelcase, Inc.

• Decision Date: 10 March 1959
• Docket Number: No. 4-58 Civ. 333.,4-58 Civ. 333.
• Citation: 172 F. Supp. 416
• Parties: George MUELLER, Plaintiff, v. STEELCASE, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Minnesota

172 F. Supp. 416

George MUELLER, Plaintiff, v. STEELCASE, INC., Defendant.

No. 4-58 Civ. 333.

United States District Court D. Minnesota, Fourth Division.

March 10, 1959.

Ernest A. Rich of Rich & Johnson, Minneapolis, Minn., for defendant in support of motion.

R. G. Johnson of Lauerman & Johnson, Olivia, Minn., for plaintiff in opposition.

NORDBYE, Chief Judge.

This action is before the Court on defendant's motion to quash service of process upon it.

From the complaint and affidavits the following facts appear: George Mueller, plaintiff, purchased an office chair some time prior to December 7, 1957, from the Kemske Paper Company of New Ulm, Minnesota. Kemske was a dealer in office supplies. Defendant, Steelcase, Inc., a Michigan corporation, had sold this chair to Kemske in 1952. On December 7, 1957, or thereabouts, a spindle on the chair broke, apparently causing Mueller to fall from the chair and sustain certain injuries. Mueller brings suit against Steelcase alleging faulty design, negligent construction, and breach of an implied warranty that the chair was fit for the purposes for which it was intended. Service of process upon Steelcase was made pursuant to M.S.A. § 303.13(3), which states:

"(3) If a foreign corporation makes a contract with a resident of Minnesota to be performed in whole or in part by either party in Minnesota, or if such foreign corporation commits a tort in whole or in part in Minnesota against a resident of Minnesota, such acts shall be deemed to be doing business in Minnesota by the foreign corporation and shall be deemed equivalent to the appointment by the foreign corporation of the secretary of the State of Minnesota and his successors to be its true and lawful attorney upon whom may be served all lawful process in any actions or proceedings against the foreign corporation arising from or growing out of such contract or tort. Such process shall be served in duplicate upon the secretary of state, together with a fee of $6 and the secretary of state shall mail one copy thereof to the corporation at its last known address, and the corporation shall have 20 days within which to answer from the date of such mailing, notwithstanding any other provision of the law. The making of the contract or the committing of the tort shall be deemed to be the agreement of the foreign corporation that any process against it which is so served upon the secretary of state shall be of the same legal force and effect as if served personally within the State of Minnesota." As amended Laws 1955, c. 820, § 30; Laws 1957, c. 538, § 1.

Steelcase neither owns nor leases any property in Minnesota. It is not licensed to do business in the State and has no resident agent here. The only company representative who enters Minnesota is a salesman who resides in Iowa. The salesman takes only about ten per cent of the orders originating in Minnesota. The remainder of the orders are placed directly by the retailers with the Steelcase plant in Grand Rapids, Michigan. All orders sent to Minnesota retailers are sent by prepaid freight from the factory, and billings also are made from the factory. The showing does not indicate whether this chair was sold through defendant's salesman or ordered directly from the factory. Steelcase does not attempt to maintain any control over retailers who sell its products, and it has no contact with the ultimate consumer. The defendant's salesman carries no products of the company on his visits to this State. He has no duties in connection with collecting bills due the company or the adjustment of complaints. The defendant carries on no advertising of its products within the borders of this State.

Steelcase contends that service upon it was invalid for two reasons: (1) That the statute (303.13(3)) is not intended to reach any defendant who has not actually committed a tortious or an alleged tortious act within the State of Minnesota; (2) that if the statute is construed so as to reach this defendant, who was not performing any business in this State, then it violates the due process clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

At the outset it seems reasonably clear that the business contacts which the defendant had in this State were extremely scanty, and to require the defendant to defend this tort claim in this State under the admitted factual circumstances would not comport with the "traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice" referred to in International Shoe Co. v. State of Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 158, 90 L.Ed. 95. The basic qualities of fair play are not even remotely met. Except for the desultory trips taken by defendant's Iowa salesman into this State for the purpose of soliciting business, defendant has neither contacts nor connections in Minnesota. The comparatively little business which is solicited in this State through its salesmen gives rise exclusively to Michigan contracts. We are not concerned here with the police power of the State in its exercise of jurisdiction over non-resident motorists who use our highways, or over non-resident insurance corporations which carry on an insurance business with our citizens. See Watson v. Employers Liability Assur. Corp., 348 U.S. 66, 75 S.Ct. 166, 99 L.Ed. 74; McGee v. International Life Ins. Co., 355 U.S. 220, 78 S.Ct. 199, 2 L.Ed.2d 223. It is not suggested that the sale of an ordinary swivel chair to a merchant in this State creates some extraordinary hazard so as to demand the exercise of the State's police power in order to protect its citizens from negligence in their manufacture. It would seem that, under the admitted circumstances, it cannot be seriously suggested that, in absence of the statute relied upon, the jurisdiction of the Minnesota courts could be exercised over the defendant in this controversy. True, plaintiff does point out that the Minnesota tort law would apply and that plaintiff's witnesses reside here. Also, it is contended that defendant could come into Minnesota and defend this lawsuit with less burden upon it than to require plaintiff to go to the State of Michigan in order to present his lawsuit. But, obviously, these factors alone are not controlling. And on the other side of the coin, one must consider the heavy burden which will rest upon the defendant in defending this claim in this State. The spindle involved in the case which allegedly broke was not manufactured by the defendant. It was purchased by it from the Gorden Manufacturing Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan, an independent concern. The spindle was already threaded and ready for installation in the chair when it was purchased by the defendant. The test of liability is that when an article is manufactured which if used in the ordinary manner will subject the user to the unreasonable risk of a substantial personal injury if the article is negligently manufactured, the manufacturer is required to use reasonable care in its manufacture, and if it...