State v. Myers

• Decision Date: 07 October 1907
• Citation: 126 Mo. App. 544,104 S.W. 1146
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals
• Parties: STATE ex rel. QUINCY, O. & K. C. R. CO. v. MYERS.

104 S.W. 1146

126 Mo. A. 544

STATE ex rel. QUINCY, O. & K. C. R. CO. v. MYERS.

Kansas City Court of Appeals. Missouri.

October 7, 1907.

Rehearing Denied November 4, 1907.

1. PROCESS — SERVICE — NECESSITY.

The only way a defendant can be brought into court to answer a cause of action asserted against him is by notice served in the form and manner provided by statute.

2. CORPORATIONS — ACTIONS — PROCESS — SERVICE — SUFFICIENCY.

Where, in an action against a domestic corporation, the process was not served on a proper person, the fact that the copies of the summons and petition served were promptly transmitted to the person on whom service should have been made was insufficient to render the service valid.

3. PROCESS — OBJECT OF SERVICE.

The object of the service of process for the commencement of a suit is to give notice to the party proceeded against, and any statutory service which reasonably accomplishes that end answers the requirements of justice.

4. CORPORATIONS — PROCESS — MANNER OF SERVICE — LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY.

The Legislature may prescribe the method of giving notice to corporations when sued, subject only to the rule that the method must be one that with reasonable certainty will result in the actual reception by the corporation of the notice, otherwise it might be deprived of property without due process of law.

5. SAME.

A statute prescribing the method of service of process for the commencement of suits against corporations is not unreasonable where it provides for a service on an officer, agent, or employé whose duties are such that any ordinarily careful person in his position would be reasonably certain to apprise the corporation of the service.

6. RAILROADS — ACTIONS — PROCESS — SERVICE.

A statute providing for the service of process in an action against a railroad on an agent in charge of an important station where all its business with a populous community is transacted is reasonable, but a statute authorizing service on a mere laborer is unreasonable.

7. SAME — STATUTES — CONSTRUCTION — "BUSINESS OFFICE" — "SHANTY."

Rev. St. 1899, § 995 [Ann. St. 1906, p. 876], providing that, when a summons shall be issued against a corporation, service on the president or other chief officer, or, in his absence, by leaving a copy at any "business office" of the corporation with the person having charge thereof, shall be sufficient, is intended to afford the public every reasonable facility for the prosecution of claims against corporations, and authorizes service of process in an action against a railroad on the person in charge of a place established for the transmission of train orders; "business office" referring to the nature of the activity conducted in it and a fixed place where any of the affairs of the corporation is made

a subject of regular attention, but does not authorize service on a switchman at his "shanty," which is a mere shelter, and not a place where any part of his duties are performed.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Grundy County; Geo. W. Wanamaker, Judge.

Action by the state, on the relation of the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Railroad Company, against William C. Myers. From a judgment for relator, defendant appeals. Reversed.

E. M. Harber and A. G. Knight, for appellant. J. G. Trimble and Hall & Hall, for respondent.

JOHNSON, J.

The relator, a railroad company, brought this suit against the sheriff of Grundy county to recover damages alleged to have been sustained in consequence of a false return of a summons issued in an action brought by F. M. Brassfield against relator. No appearance was made by relator in that case in the circuit court, and default was taken by plaintiff, and judgment afterwards was entered in his favor in the sum of $2,000. Relator then sued out a writ of error from this court, and attacked the sufficiency of the summons to confer jurisdiction over its person on grounds which now do not concern us. We held them to be insufficient, and affirmed the judgment. Brassfield v. Railroad, 109 Mo. App. 710, 83 S. W. 1032. Relator then paid the judgment, and brought this action, alleging that the recital in the return made by defendant of the summons, that service thereof was made on Harry Moss, "the agent and in charge of the business office of the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Railroad Company * * * in the city of Trenton, in the county of Grundy, and state of Missouri," was false, in this: that the said Moss was not the agent of relator, nor was the place where he was served a business office within the meaning of the statute. A jury was waived, evidence was heard, and judgment rendered in favor of relator, from which this appeal is prosecuted by defendant.

Relator is a domestic corporation, and, at the time of the institution of the Brassfield action, was operating a railroad through Grundy and other counties of the state. Its main line passed through the north side of the city of Trenton, but its station where it transacted all of its business with the public was situated in the central part of the city, and was connected with the main line by a spur track half a mile or more in length. All of the passenger and local freight trains were run to that station, but many through and extra freight trains passed through the city over the main track without being switched onto the spur track. All night trains were required to stop at the...