3 Conn. Cir. Ct. 398 | Conn. App. Ct. | 1965
The complaint alleges that the defendant is a Pennsylvania corporation; that on or about October 13, 1964, the plaintiff purchased a ticket from the defendant’s agent, the Milford Travel Agency, Inc., located in Milford, Connecticut, for a weekend Pennsylvania tour; that when the plaintiff arrived in Pennsylvania she was provided with a room on the second floor in the defendant’s hotel; that on October 15,1964, at approximately 9:15 p.m.,
From the evidence adduced at the hearing, the court finds the following facts: The defendant is a Pennsylvania corporation, conducting a hotel business in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. On or about October 13,1964, the plaintiff, a resident of Milford, Connecticut, purchased a ticket for Casser’s Pennsylvania Dutch Tour through The Milford Travel Agency, Inc., of Milford. On arrival in Lancaster, plaintiff was provided with a room in the defendant hotel. Casser Tours is an organization providing bus transportation, sight-seeing and accommodations in the United States and in foreign countries, maintaining an office in New York City. The brochure issued by Casser Tours advertising this particular tour states: “[0]ur destination is Lancaster, Pennsylvania where rooms are assigned for two nights at the comfortable Brunswick Hotel.” The following also appears under the designation “Responsibility”: “Casser Tours, div. of Manhattan Transit Co., acts only as agents and assumes no
The question presented for determination is whether under the factual situation in the instant case the defendant is amenable to service under § 33-411 (b) of the G-eneral Statutes. There is no reported case from Connecticut courts dealing with a comparable factual situation.
Each case in which the question of doing business is raised must stand upon its own peculiar facts. So, in the instant case, the determination whether or not the defendant, a foreign corporation, was transacting business in this state under
The plaintiff places considerable reliance on McGee v. International Life Ins. Co., supra, and International Shoe Co. v. Washington, supra. These cases are not pertinent on the facts and are not applicable to the instant situation.
In paragraph 1 of her complaint, the plaintiff alleges that the defendant “is doing business in Connecticut through its agent, The Milford Travel Agency, Inc.” The defendant contends that it is not doing business in Connecticut through The Milford
Was the defendant doing business in this state and was the Milford Travel Agency, Inc., its agent? The case of MacInnes v. Fontainebleau Hotel Corporation, 257 F.2d 832, took cognizance of International Shoe Co. v. Washington, supra, and McGee v. International Life Ins. Co., supra. In that case the plaintiff, a resident of New York, instituted suit in New York against the defendant, a Florida corporation and owner and operator of a resort hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. The defendant maintained an office in New York City with three employees. Their function was to receive requests for reservations, which were forwarded to Florida for confirmation, to answer inquiries and to distribute brochures. A small, inactive bank account was maintained in New York and the defendant’s name was listed in the telephone and building directories and appeared on the door of its office. Defendant’s advertisements referred to its New York office. The court held that the defendant was not doing business in New York and dismissed the action for lack of jurisdiction. The rational of the court is stated (p. 833) as follows: “Here the business is that of a hotel. All the facilities and attractions offered to its guests, such as, shelter, recreation, and entertainment must be furnished to the guests within the confines of the hotel property in Miami Beach. Defendant’s entire business, of necessity, must be carried on there. Defendant may seek to attract patrons by newspaper ads throughout the United States and may even have offices in the larger cities for
It is to be noted that the connection between The Milford Travel Agency, Inc., and the Hotel Brunswick is much more remote than the relationship between the Fontainebleau Hotel and its office in New York. In the instant case, the only reference to the Hotel Brunswick is in the brochure of the Casser Tours. The position of the plaintiff in the instant case on the jurisdictional issue is considerably weaker than that of the plaintiff in the MacInnes case, supra. Other cases which held that a foreign hotel corporation was not subject to personal jurisdiction even though the hotel maintained reservation bureaus or facilities are Wiederhorn v. The Sands, Inc., 142 F. Sup. 448 (“The Sands,” Las Vegas, Nev.); Guile v. Sea Island Co., 11 Misc. 2d 496, aff’d, 272 App. Div. 881, appeal denied, 297 N.Y. 781 (“Cloisters,” Sea Island, Ga.); Miller v. Surf Properties, Inc., 4 N.Y.2d 475 (Belmar Hotel, Miami Beach, Fla.); see also Dana v. Fontainebleau Hotel Corporation, 34 Misc. 2d 20.
The sole activity of The Milford Travel Agency, Inc., was the sale of the ticket to the plaintiff. In Philadelphia & R. Ry. v. McKibbin, 243 U.S. 264, 268, the court held that “the sale by a local carrier of through tickets does not involve a doing of busi
This court is of the opinion that the defendant was not doing business in this state and that The Milford Travel Agency, Inc., was not its agent, and so concludes. Accordingly, the service of the writ, summons and complaint, as made, did not confer jurisdiction over the defendant.
The plea in abatement is sustained, and judgment thereon is rendered for the defendant.