State ex rel. Twin City & Southern Bus Co. v. District Court of Otter Tail County

• Decision Date: 21 June 1929
• Docket Number: 27,579
• Citation: State ex rel. Twin City & Southern Bus Co. v. District Court of Otter Tail County, 178 Minn. 72, 225 N. W. 915 (Minn. 1929)
• Parties: STATE EX REL. TWIN CITY & SOUTHERN BUS COMPANY v. DISTRICT COURT OF OTTER TAIL COUNTY AND OTHERS
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

225 N.W. 915

178 Minn. 72

STATE EX REL. TWIN CITY & SOUTHERN BUS COMPANY v. DISTRICT COURT OF OTTER TAIL COUNTY AND OTHERS

No. 27,579

Supreme Court of Minnesota

June 21, 1929

Order to show cause upon the relation of Twin City & Southern Bus Company directed to the district court for Otter Tail county and the judges and clerk thereof why a peremptory writ of mandamus should not issue directing the transfer of the files from Otter Tail to Hennepin county in an action for personal injuries instituted by one Elmer A. Arneson against relator. Writ issued.

SYLLABUS

Change of venue as to foreign corporations -- cases overruled.

The venue statute as to foreign corporations [G.S. 1923 (2 Mason 1927) § 9214] must be construed so as to place such corporations within the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment of the federal constitution, as held in Power Mfg. Co. v. Saunders, 274 U.S. 490, 47 S.Ct 678, 71 L.Ed. 1165. Olson v. Osborne & Co. 30 Minn. 444, 15 N.W. 876, and Eickhoff v. Fidelity & Casualty Co. 74 Minn. 139, 76 N.W. 1030, being in conflict with the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, are overruled.

Constitutional Law, 12 C.J. § 877 p. 1142 n. 81.

Corporations, 14a C.J. § 3950 p. 1250 n. 10.

Cobb, Hoke, Benson, Krause & Faegre, for relator.

Roger L. Dell, for respondents.

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

Order to show cause why a peremptory writ of mandamus should not issue directing a transfer of the files and records of the cause from the district court of Otter Tail county to Hennepin.

From the petition and the return it appears that defendant is a foreign corporation authorized to and doing business in this state, having the main and head office in Minneapolis, and having no office, agent, place of business, bus or bus line in the county of Otter Tail; that plaintiff's cause of action is predicated upon a collision with defendant's bus in the state of Wisconsin; and that defendant's officers, agents, books and records are in Hennepin county, making it a matter of considerable inconvenience for defendant to try the action in Otter Tail county. The district court denied a motion to transfer the cause from the last named county to the county of Hennepin, defendant having previously made a demand for such change under G.S. 1923 (2 Mason, 1927) § 9215.

Plaintiff laid the venue in Otter Tail county, relying upon this provision found in G.S. 1923 (2 Mason, 1927) § 9214, relating to venue:

"If none of the parties shall reside or be found in the state, or the defendant be a foreign corporation, the action may be begun and tried in any county which the plaintiff shall designate. A domestic corporation other than railroad companies, street railway companies * * * shall be considered as residing in any county wherein it has an office, resident agent or business place."

Defendant cannot be brought within the concluding sentence of the section as properly suable in Otter Tail county, for its transportation line does not reach that county.

Olson v. Osborne & Co. 30 Minn. 444, 15 N.W. 876, and Eickhoff v. Fidelity & Casualty Co. 74 Minn. 139, 76 N.W. 1030, determined that, under the...