154 A. 255 | Conn. | 1931
The plaintiff, a resident of Connecticut, brought this action to recover for injuries alleged to have been caused by negligence in the operation of automobiles owned by the defendants. One of them, the appellant, was described in the writ as of a certain address in New Jersey. From the return upon the writ it appears that the only service made upon him was by an officer who left a copy of the writ and complaint with the commissioner of motor vehicles of this State, described as a duly authorized agent and attorney of the appellant, and mailed by registered mail a like copy to the appellant at the New Jersey address; and that the officer received a registry return receipt. Before the return day the appellant, by his attorney, entered a special appearance and filed a motion to erase the case from the docket as against him, claiming that the statute under which the service had been made upon him was ineffective under the relevant constitutional limitations to confer jurisdiction upon the court to entertain the action against him. The trial court denied the motion and the correctness of that ruling is the sole question presented upon this appeal.
Service of the writ was made under the provisions of Chapter 122 of the Public Acts of 1925, now § 5473 of the General Statutes, Revision of 1930, which is *76
quoted in the footnote.* This statute is of the same general type as those which have been enacted for a similar purpose in a number of other States. Two of these statutes have come to the Supreme Court of the United States and the conclusions reached as to them go far to determine the question before us. In Hess v. Pawloski,
Our statute requires service of the process by the officer to whom it is addressed upon the commissioner of motor vehicles "by leaving with or at the office of said commissioner, at least twelve days before the return of such process, a true and attested copy thereof, and by sending to the defendant, by registered mail, postage prepaid, a like true and attested copy with an indorsement thereon of the service upon said *79
commissioner, addressed to such defendant at his last-known address." Under our law, with very limited exceptions, process in civil actions can only be served by certain designated officers to whom it must be addressed; the officer making the service must indorse his doings upon the writ and complaint and return it to court a certain number of days before the return day; and the statements contained in such a return are held to be prima facie true. General Statutes, §§ 5463, 5466, 5505; Coast Lakes ContractingCorporation v. Martin,
The officer's return upon the writ serves the purpose of the affidavit of compliance with the statute required in some of the laws of other States. While no registry return receipt is required, as in the Massachusetts statute, this is not a sufficient reason to hold the statute ineffective; it is reasonable probability of notice, not actual notice, which is the test.Wuchter v. Pizzutti, Jones v. Paxton, and State exrel. Cronkhite v. Belden, supra. The requirement that the copy be mailed to the defendant at his "last-known address" does not mean the last address known to the plaintiff but does mean the last address of the defendant so far as it is known, that is, by those who under the ordinary circumstances of life would know it. Unless the defendant has departed for parts unknown, it means his actual address; if he has disappeared it means his last address so far as it is reasonably possible to ascertain it. This address the plaintiff must learn at his peril and only if the copy is mailed to it is there a compliance with the statute. *81 Jones v. Paxton, supra, p. 365; State ex rel. Cronkhite v. Belden, supra, p. 158; Schilling v. Odlebak,supra, p. 93. Interpreted in the sense which the legislature intended, our statute, if complied with, will certainly bring about a reasonable probability of actual notice of the pendency of the action to the defendant.
The notice being required to be mailed substantially twelve days before the return of the process there would be in any ordinary case a sufficient opportunity for the defendant to appear within the time fixed by our rule, that is, on or before the opening of court on the second day after the return day. Practice Book, p. 261, § 83. But if he does not appear, our statutes afford him ample protection. Thus, General Statutes, § 5501, quoted in the footnote,* which by its express terms applies to "every civil action," provides *82
that, if the defendant shall not be an inhabitant or resident of the State at the commencement of the action and shall not appear and answer thereto, the case is to be continued for three months and an order of notice is to be made, and if at the end of three months, the defendant does not appear and the court shall think it probable that he has not received notice of the pendency of the action, then it shall be continued another month, when, if he still fails to appear, judgment may be rendered against him on default; but even then a bond is required to be filed by the plaintiff before execution may issue and the transfer of any lands taken on execution is restricted. We do not agree with the contention of counsel that this statute is not to be regarded in our consideration of the particular law we have before us. The presumption is that the legislature, in enacting that law, did it in view of existing relevant statutes, and intended it to be read with them, so as to make one consistent body of law. "The General Assembly is always presumed to know all the existing statutes and the effect that its action or non-action will have upon any one of them. And it is always presumed to have intended that effect which its action or non-action produces." State v. Staub,
We have not overlooked the decisions of the New York Supreme Court and of the Appellate Division of that court in Freedman v. Poirier,
There is no error.