217 N.W. 621 | Iowa | 1928
I. On April 8, 1927, the appellant filed a petition in the district court of Iowa in and for Decatur County, seeking to recover damages from appellee for alleged breach of a contract for the sale of real estate located in said county. The original notice in said action required the appellee to appear at the next term of the district court of Decatur County. The original notice was served in Des Moines, Polk County, upon Mae Stinson, who is described as "the assistant secretary of said corporation." In due time, the appellee entered a special appearance in said cause in the district court of Decatur County, and moved the court to dismiss the action for want of jurisdiction, and by affidavit set up the fact that the appellee is a corporation organized under and by virtue of the Federal Farm Loan Act of Congress; that the principal place of business of said corporation is in the city of Chicago, state of Illinois; that it has no office or agency for the transaction of business in Decatur County, Iowa, and never has had. The court sustained the motion, and dismissed the petition.
It may be conceded that the district court had jurisdiction *1261 of the subject-matter of the action, — namely, a claim for damages for breach of a contract for the conveyance of real estate.
II. The sole ground of challenge to the jurisdiction of the district court was as follows:
"That it is a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the Federal Farm Loan Act of Congress, and is a Federal corporation, and that the only office which it maintains within the state of Iowa for the transaction of business is at the city of Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa. That it has no office or agency for the transaction of business in Decatur County, Iowa, and never has had."
The challenge raises but one question: namely, that service upon said corporation in Polk County is not good in an action brought in Decatur County. The argument has gone far afield. We consider only the case made by appellee's motion. Under the situation stated in the appellee's motion, its remedy was solely to move for a change of place of trial to the proper county. The case is ruled by New Hampshire Fire Ins. Co. v. Utterback,
The order of the district court must be, and it is, —Reversed.
STEVENS, C.J., and EVANS, KINDIG, and WAGNER, JJ., concur. *1262