12 Colo. 46 | Colo. | 1888
Lead Opinion
delivered the opinion of the court.
The original complaint is not set out in the record, nor is reference made to the same in the abstract or argument of counsel. The amended complaint is a suit against the Woodmas of Alston Mining Company and Alfred H. and Eandall W. Wilson. It was begun in the district court of Park county, but, by consent of parties, heard before the district court of said district in El Paso county. It is shown by the pleadings and proofs that the plaintiff is a domestic corporation, organized under
The axnended return on the writ of attachment in the Perkins suit showed that the return was upon said Purmort as “ the resident agent of the company,” and ixx the other writs and summons the amended return showed that the service was had upon the same person as' “ the
It is not necessary to analyze the pleadings in this case, or review, to any considerable extent, the evidence. It is clearly apparent that the only service of summons had was upon the said Purmort; that he was not the general agent,— he was simply the foreman, and acting in behalf of the general agent, Kellogg; that the plaintiff in the attachment suits, and the sheriff who made the service,
There was an attempt to obtain jurisdiction by service of process upon an agent of the corporation. In cases of domestic corporations the service must be upon a general agent. Code Civil Proc. 1883, § 40. There is a wide distinction between a general and a special or particular agent,— a distinction not unfounded or useless, and one which solves many cases. A special agency exists where there is a delegation of authority to do a single act, and a general agency exists where there is a delegation to do all acts connected with a' particular trade, business or employment. Story, Ag. § 17. Numerous other authorities recognize this same distinction so clearly laid down by Mr. Story. Beals v. Allen, 18 Johns. 363; Martin v. Farnsworth, 49 N. Y. 555; Merserau v. Insurance Co. 66 N. Y. 274; Railroad Co. v. Reisner, 18 Kan. 458; Cruzan v. Smith, 41 Ind. 288. While the powers of a general agent may be liberally construed according to the necessities of the occasion and the scope of his business and employment, those of a special agent are limited by the terms in which they are conferred, and he takes nothing by implication. O. S. Purmort, the person upon whom service of process was had in this case, could in no sense of the term be called a general agent. As shown by the evidence, one A. W. Kellogg was the general agent. Purmort was employed by him as foreman of the miue. His duties were to oversee the laborers on
To bind a corporation the service of process must be upon the identical agent provided by the statute. Chambers v. Manufactory, 16 Kan. 270; Kennedy v. Society, 38 Cal. 151; Watertown v. Robinson, 59 Wis. 513; Aiken v. Mining Co. 6 Cal. 187; O'Brien v. Shaw, 10 Cal. 343; Reddington v. Mining Co. 19 Hun, 405; Cherry v. Railroad Co. 59 Ga. 446; Railroad Co. v. Miller, 81 Ill. 45.
In Railway Co. v. Hunt, 39 Mich. 469, the court, in speaking of the return of service upon an agent, said: “But what sort of an agent? Was he agent to buy wood, or to employ a switchman, or to keep cattle off the track, or what was his agency? Every servant of the road is in a sense an agent. There must be something more definite than the mere designation of a man as ‘agent’ before a court can say that his relation to the corporation was such as to make him its representative for the purpose of receiving services of process for it. The terms ‘general or special agent’ are very, indefinite, but employed as they are here, in association with terms designating the principal officers of the corporation, they evidently intend agents who either gener
In Reddington v. Mining Co. the court said: “It is quite clear that the legislature attached importance to the term ‘managing agent,’ and employed it to distinguish a person who should be invested with general power, involving the exercise of judgment and discretion, from an ordinary agent or employee who acted in an inferior capacity, and under the direction and control of superior authority, both in regard to the extent of the work and the manner of executing the same. The distinction thus attempted to be drawn we deem reasonable, and in harmony with the obvious purpose of the statute in regard to the service of process upon a foreign corporation.”
In Transportation Co. v. Whittaker, 16 Wis. 233, the question presented was whether there had been a sufficient service. The summons had been served upon the captain of a steamboat belonging to the company while employed in transacting its business on the Mississippi river, within the boundaries of the state, and the court held that he was not a managing agent, within the meaning of the statute. Said the court: “The statute relates to an agent having a general supervision over the affairs of the corporation.”
The service of process in this case was not made upon a general agent of the defendant company, and such service could not bind the company. This conclusion renders necessary the investigation of the question whether the appearance of the appellant company entered by the attorney Gwynn in the Moynahan suit would bind it. He was not employed for this purpose by the company direct, or through its authorized agents, nor did he inform the company of his acts in the premises. His appearance was wholly unauthorized, and, in
The proceedings in this case are a direct attack upon the judgment, and it is- useless to discuss the question so ably presented by counsel, whether a judgment can be attacked collaterally for want of due service. It was competent to showr that the service of the writ and summons was not made upon a general agent of the defendant, and that the entry of appearance by the attorney was unauthorized, and that no notice was given to the parties whose right was sought to be affected by such entry. It follows as a logical result of the propositions before discussed that a judgment rendered without service, or upon the unauthorized appearance of an attorney, is (whenever it is made to appear by proper proceedings instituted for this purpose) void, and that all sales, or other proceedings had thereunder, are as to all persons,
The mere levy of an attachment did not give the court jurisdiction to determine the question of indebtedness and condemn the attached property to pay the same. The remedy by attachment is purely statutory. It has no existence without the statute. It has an individuality entirely foreign to the common law, and, being in derogation of common right, must be. strictly construed. An attachment of real estate and notice thereof is made by filing a copy of the writ, together with a description of the property, with'the recorder of the county; and by serving a copy of the writ on the defendant. Civil Code 1883, § 101. When service is other than personal, or personal service without the state, the statute provides when this shall be complete. Id. §§ 44, 45. The statute (Id. § 49) further provides that, from the time of the service of summons in a civil action, the court shall be deemed to have acquired jurisdiction, and to have control of all subsequent proceedings. A voluntary appearance of the defendant shall be equivalent to personal service upon him. Where a defendant resides in this state, and there is no question but that he can be personally served, the service is complete when a copy of the writ is served upon him, and the property levied upon. Then, and not until then, does the court acquire jurisdiction to finally hear and determine the same. This is a construction that this provision of the code has ever received. Kendall v. Washburn, 14 How. Pr. 380; Moore v. Thayer, 6 How. Pr. 47; In re Griswold, 13 Barb. 412; Kelly v. Countryman, 15 Hun, 97.
The abstract in this case was very imperfect, and the record exceedingly voluminous, and the court regrets that no argument was filed by counsel for the appellees; for in cases of this magnitude the court is entitled to all the light which the experience and research of counsel can furnish.
Judgment reversed and cause remanded.
Rehearing
ON rehearing.
delivered the opinion of the court.
In the opinion of this court in this case filed upon the 30th day of November, 1888, Mr. Justice Gerry concludes by saying: “The abstract in this case is very imperfect, and the record exceedingly voluminous, and the court regrets that no argument was filed by counsel for the appellees; for in cases of this magnitude the court is enti
In the former opinion it was held — First, that service of process in this case was not made upon a general agent of the defendant company, and that the service made did not bind the company; second, that the appearance of Gwynn for defendant was wholly unauthorized, and the company was not bound thereby; third, that the mere levy of the attachment did not give the court jurisdiction to determine the question of indebtedness and condemn the attached property to the payment of the same.
After again carefully considering these questions, we see no reason to change the views heretofore expressed. Purmort, upon whom service was made for the company, was directly interested in .the success of the plaintiff’s action, having assigned to the plaintiff, for the purpose of collection in that suit, a claim of several hundred dollars, which he held against the defendant company; and he was doubtless willing to use the utmost limit of his authority in order that the service had upon him might be made binding upon the company; and yet the sheriff at the time made return that he had executed the writs upon “Purmort, the foreman of the defendant company,” which return is corroborative of Purmort’s testimony, to the effect that he was only foreman of the mine, and that he so informed the sheriff at the time the service was made upon him. This service upon Purmort was not service upon the company.
These were the only questions passed upon in the former opinion, but upon this rehearing other and different questions have also been presented which have received our careful consideration. The claim is now made that the appellant was guilty of such laches as precludes a recovery in this action. Was the appellant guilty of laches, and, if so, to what extent, and how is it affected thereby in this suit? An examination of the testimony shows that, at the time of the commencement of the attachment suits, Kellogg telegraphed from Denver to Purmort at the mines the amount due each of the creditors, who afterwards joined in the suit, as such amounts appeared upon the company’s books. The reason for sending this telegram is not given, but it is assumed by counsel for the appellees that it was for the purpose of furnishing the necessary information to enable certain creditors about the mine to instituto suits against the company and secure such advantage over Moynahan as might arise from their being able to anticipate the suit which he was then threatening to commence and did in fact institute against the company the next day. In other words, it is claimed that Kellogg knew in advance that the’Perkins suit-was to be commenced, audit is conceded that, as he was a general agent, his knowledge,
In considering the conduct of the appellant, it must also be borne in mind that complaint is not made of any affirmative act upon the part of the officers of the company by which the appellees were misled. By their silence alone, it is claimed, the company is barred from
The appellant was not informed of the false return or of the unauthorized appearance of Gwynn in time to proceed by motion to correct the same in the court where the attachment suits were pending, and had no notice of the sale of its real property until the time for redemption had expired, but, as soon as it did obtain information of the fraud perpetrated upon it, it was diligent in employing counsel and commencing this suit; and as this suit was brought within less than three years from the
It is claimed, however, that, aside from this question of laches, the appellant’s case is fatally defective, because it appears that the judgments in the attachment suits were founded upon an indebtedness both just and due at the time the judgments weré rendered, and if set aside, and a retrial of the case had, the result must be the same. Where the fraud of the party, as in this case, enters into the procurement of the judgment, it is doubtful if a court should require a showing of merits as a condition of relief. Then, again, while courts will not do an idle thing, and therefore will not ordinarily set aside a judgment when it appears, by re-opening the case, the same judgment must be again rendered upon a trial of the cause upon its merits, yet courts frequently enjoin the collection of so much of judgments fraudulently obtained as is shown to be inequitable or excessive. And so, where sales or deeds have been made under such fraudulent judgments, courts have drawn a distinction between such sales and deeds and the fraudulent judgments themselves. Litchfield's Appeal, 28 Conn. 127; Martin v. Parsons, 49 Cal. 94. Before a man’s property is sold and deeded away, he should have an opportunity to pay the debt or redeem the property from sale. This right to redeem is a valuable right, secured by positive statutory enactment; which right, in this case, was denied appellant, and its property sequestered without notice to it. Under these circumstances, we believe that courts of equity should grant appropriate relief, without
And if it be true that the third parties have purchased under the belief that the judgments were valid and binding between the parties, this will not defeat a recovery. “Nor does the fact that the real estate sold under the judgment has passed to third parties operate to defeat the right of plaintiff to show the want of jurisdiction or of authority to accept service.” Newcomb v. Dewey, 27 Iowa, 381. This doctrine is supported in the following cases: Harshey v. Blackmarr, 20 Iowa, 161; Bryant v. Williams, 21 Iowa, 329; Shelton v. Tiffin, 6 How. 163; Ingle v. McCurry, 1 Heisk. 26; Mastin v. Gray, 19 Kan. 458; Ferguson v. Crawford, 70 N. Y. 253.
In the case of Harshey v. Blackmarr, supra, Judge Dillon, speaking for the court, uses this language in reference to a judgment obtained without service and upon an appearance entered by an unauthorized attorney: “And this brings to us the more difficult question, whether, assuming these facts, and the further fact that the demurrants in the case at bar are innocent purchasers of the land, is the plaintiff entitled to relief against them. * * * The most of the cases heretofore cited arose between the immediate parties to the judgment or decree, and their facts, therefore, would not be wholly applicable to the present aspect of this case, though their principles have more or less bearing upon it. In arriving at the conclusion that the decree on the facts assumed would be wholly null and void as to the present plaintiff, we have been much fortified by the finding that such would be the judgment of the civil law under such circumstances.”
In the case at bar the record entry does not show that service was made upon the defendant in either suit, and, if we go to the officer’s return, we find that by the first
The question of a defect of parties defendant is raised for the first time in this court; the claim advanced being that the plaintiffs in the attachment' suits are indispensable parties to this action, without whom no decree can be entered in favor of the appellant. It appears from the pleadings and evidence that at the sales made under the judgments Moynahan and Gwynn purchased the property for the judgment creditors for an amount sufficient to satisfy the judgments, and afterwards sold it to the appellees for an amount largely in excess of the amount of such judgments, the appellees taking quitclaim deeds to the property, and they have, in turn, reaped a benefit out of working,the property in an amount largely more than the purchase price paid by them. Neither Perkins nor Moynahan claims any interest in the property, and are not liable under the quitclaim deeds. 3 Washb. Real Prop. p. 356, § 4; Adams, v. Schiffer, 11 Colo. 15. The case of Allen v. Tritch, 5 Colo. 229, cited by counsel, is not analogous to the case at bar; for the reason that, although Allen had deeded away his interest in the land, the title to which was the subject of controversy, he had, to secure the purchase price, taken a mortgage upon the premises, and also a power of attorney to sell, convey or lease the same, and consequently was held to be a necessary party. In the case of Snyder v. Voorhes, 7 Colo. 296, it was held, upon demurrer to the bill, that “in an action to cancel and set aside a deed of record on the ground that it was never delivered, and its possession procured by the grantee by fraud, the grantee being dead, his heirs are necessary
In view of the circumstances of this case, we do not deem it advisable to enter a final decree in this court,
Eeversed and remanded.
Reversed.