66 P. 826 | Idaho | 1901
— The respondent commenced this action to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained by him while a passenger on a train of cars operated by the appellant, in the district court of the first judicial district, in and for Kootenai county. To the complaint the defendant filed its answer, an affidavit of merits, and demand for a change of venue to the district court of the second judicial district, in and for Nez Perces county, on the ground that the defendant, a foreign corporation, has its principal place of business and its regularly designated agent in the latter county, and for that reason is entitled to the change of venue demanded. This motion was denied, and from the order of the court denying the motion for the change of venue, appellant appeals.
It sufficiently appears that the appellant is a foreign corporation, and that it has duly, by writing, filed and recorded as required by law, designated an agent resident at Lewiston, in Nez Perces county, upon whom legal process shall be served by and on behalf of the said appellant, and that said latter place is its principal place of business in this state. Appellant contends that under the statutes and the decisions of this court in Easley v. Insurance Co., 4 Idaho, 205, 38 Pac. 405, and Webster v. Railroad Co., 6 Idaho, 312, 55 Pac. 661, and other authorities cited, it was error to deny the said motion.
The statute authorizing or requiring foreign corporations to designate an agent upon whom service of process may be served (Bev. Stats., sec. 2653) was not intended to apply to railroad corporations. That statute prescribes a general rule, and was enacted for the benefit and convenience of the citizens of this state. That the rule should not apply to railroad corporations is apparent from the fact that the legislature has prescribed that summons may be served upon any ticket or station agent, thus showing that summons need not be necessarily served upon the designated agent. As a matter of fact, section 2653 of the Eevised Statutes does not prescribe upon' what agent of a foreign corporation service shall be made. 'The object of that statute was to make it possible for all •citizens of this state to Obtain actual service upon foreign corporations doing business in this state, whether such foreign corporations have one or more regular places of business or not. The persons or agents upon whom service may he made in actions against foreign corporations are named in section •4144 of the Eevised Statutes as amended by act of March 3, 1897 (Acts 1897, p. 13), and re-enacted February 16, 1899 «(Acts 1899, p. 293). The second subdivision of said section
For the foregoing reasons, the order Of the district court denying appellant’s motion to change the place of trial from Kootenai county to Nez Perces county is affirmed, with costs to the respondents.