Smith v. J. P. Seeburg Corporation

• Decision Date: 09 March 1942
• Docket Number: 34801.
• Citation: Smith v. J. P. Seeburg Corporation, 6 So.2d 591, 192 Miss. 563 (Miss. 1942)
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: SMITH et al. v. J. P. SEEBURG CORPORATION.

6 So.2d 591

192 Miss. 563

SMITH et al. v. J. P. SEEBURG CORPORATION.

No. 34801.

Supreme Court of Mississippi

March 9, 1942

Will S. Wells, of Jackson, for appellants.

Heidelberg & Gordon, of Jackson, for appellee.

GRIFFITH Justice.

Appellee an Illinois corporation, sued to foreclose a chattel mortgage for the purchase price of certain phonograph instruments which it had sold to appellants through a nonresident distributing agent, the Electro Ball Company of Texas, and appellants interposed as their sole defense that appellee, a foreign corporation, was doing business in this State at the time of the contract and in respect thereto, without having appointed a resident agent, or filed a copy of its charter as required by Sections 4140and4164,Code 1930; and that, in consequence, appellee was and is barred from access to our courts for the enforcement of the contract.

Under the facts as shown in evidence, viewed in the light of the numerous decisions of this Court, it is clear that appellee was not doing business in this State, but that its transactions pertinent to this case were interstate in character; and for the reason that this subject has so often been before the Court and amply discussed, we would affirm without any written opinion, except for the feature next to be mentioned.

It is contended by appellants that after the receipt of the instruments in this State, appellee from time to time serviced them so as to keep them in proper repair and operation, and appellants invoke the principle announced by this Court in Case v. Mills Novelty Co., 187 Miss. 673, 193 So. 625, 126 A.L.R. 1102.The proof is sufficient in support of the decree (1) that there was no such contract or undertaking on the part of appellee.On the contrary, so far as appellee was concerned, the mortgage by its express terms...