76 Neb. 141 | Neb. | 1906
The appellee had judgment in the district court for Lancaster county enjoining the sheriff of that county and others from enforcing an execution issued out of the district court for Hall county. The defendants have brought the case to this court by appeal.
The appellee is a domestic life' insurance corporation, with the principal place of transacting its business in the
Wasrner was termed a special agent. His employment
The cause of action arose in Lancaster county, and prior to the proceedings in Hall county action on the policy had been instituted in the county of Lancaster; the case there tried resulting in a verdict and judgment for the plaintiffs which on error to the supreme court had been reversed, and thereafter, for some reason, the action was by the plaintiffs dismissed without prejudice.
The questions presented by this appeal are: Did the district court for' Hall county have jurisdiction to hear and determine the case; did the service shown by the record give the district court for Hall county jurisdiction over the person of the insurance company; and, if not, has the company shown itself entitled to relief, as against the judgment there rendered, by injunction. Section 55 of the code, in force at the time of the institution of the action, was as follows: “An action other than one of
“When the legislature provides the county, in which a domestic corporation may be sued, such provision is exclusive.”
It is conceded that the corporation did not have its principal office or place of business in Hall county and that the cause of action arose in Lancaster county, so that the question is, did the company maintain an agency in Hall county, so that it might be said to be situated there, within the meaning of the provisions of section 55. In paragraph five of the syllabus in Western Travelers Accident Ass’n v. Taylor, supra, it is said:
“A domestic corporation may be sued only in the places provided by law, and the tempory presence of one or more of the officers of such corporation in another jurisdiction does not authorize the corporation to be sued there.”
In that case service was had on tlie secretary of the company while temporarily in Douglas county, engaged in an effort to settle the very controversy over which the action was brought. The principal place of business of the corporation was in Hall county, it maintained no
In Fremont Butter & Egg Co. v. Snyder, 39 Neb. 632, the company was a domestic corporation with its principal place of business at Fremont, in Dodge county. It was sued in Saunders county. The jurisdiction of the court over the corporation in that county was questioned. It appeared, however, from the evidence that the company had a branch house at Wahoo, in Saunders county, where it displayed its sign, “Fremont Butter & Egg Co. Buyers of Butter and Eggs.” It had employed there one or more persons engaged in transacting the company’s business, buying, assorting and boxing eggs, which were shipped to the Fremont house and to other points, ás the corporation manager directed. The business there Avas of a permanent nature, and it was held that the action was properly brought in Saunders county; that the corporation was situated there within the meaning of the statute.
In Bankers Life Ins. Co. v. Robbins, 53 Neb. 44, an action on a life insurance policy against a domestic corporation, it was held that the action was properly brought in Valley county, although the company was domiciled in Lancaster county, because of the fact that the insured died in Valley county, and the cause of action arose there for that reason.
A review of the adjudications of this court, where the provisions of section 55 of the code have been under consideration, leads to the conclusion that the mere presence of an agent of a domestic corporation in a county is not sufficient to give the courts of that county jurisdiction in an action against such corporation, and the residence of an agent does not necessarily justify the inference that the principal is situated within the county of such residence; and the fact that an agent is temporarily engaged in transacting the business of his principal even in the county where the agent resides, is not sufficient to vest the courts of that county with jurisdiction over an action against the corporation. We do not regard the fact that
The company has pleaded that at the time of the death of the insured the policy had lapsed by reason of the nonpayment of premiums, and the evidence is sufficient to establish that defense, at least, prima facie; but the appellant insists, notwithstanding, that the remedy by injunction should not be allowed because the company had an adequate remedy at law. In Bankers Life v. Robbins, supra, it was held:
“A remedy is not adequate, within the meaning of this rule, which compels the citizen to go from the county of*148 his residence into a foreign jurisdiction in which he has never been present and in which he has never been lawfully summoned. The right of the insurance company to be sued in the county where its principal place of business was located, or in some county in which it was situated or had an agent, was and is a legal right; and it is a strained construction of language to say that, because a litigant may go into a foreign jurisdiction and enter a special appearance to an action, that that remedy is adequate, when, besides the costs, expenses, and time spent in attending court in the foreign jurisdiction, he is compelled to surrender valuable legal rights.”
The rule there announced is peculiarly applicable to the conditions of this case, and is a complete answer to the claim of a lack of equity.
The judgment of the district court was right, and we recommend that it be affirmed.
By the Court: For the reasons stated in the foregoing opinion, the judgment of the district court is
AFFIRMED.