Shawnee Fire Insurance v. National Surety Co.
Shawnee Fire Insurance v. National Surety Co.
Opinion of the Court
Did the district court correctly rule in ordering the removal of an action involving about $50,000, begun by a domestic corporation against a foreign corporation doing business in this state, from the state to a federal court? is the sole question presented on this appeal.
On July 13, 1914, appellant, The Shawnee Fire Insurance Company, a Kansas corporation, commenced an action in the district court of Shawnee county against the appellee, The National Surety Company, a New York corporation doing business in this state, to recover about $50,000 alleged to be due from appellant’s general agents and appellee as surety on the bonds of such general agents. A petition and bond for removal were duly filed in the district court, and only a brief notice of the time of hearing was given, but both parties appeared at the hearing. The appellant’s objections, first, “that the petition did not state sufficient facts to justify the state court in granting the order,” and,' second, “that the notice of the petition to remove had not been made as required by law,” were overruled, and the court approved the bond and ordered the removal of the action.
On this appeal the appellant contends that the filing of the written consent as provided for in section 4122 of the General Statutes of 1909 irrevocably waives the right of removal of an action to a federal court from the state courts, whereas appellee insists that such written consent does not comprehend an irrevocable waiver of the right of removal of an action, and further, that if so construed such statute would be in violation of the “federal constitution and statutes enacted pursuant thereto” and therefore void.
The statute provides that foreign surety companies are authorized to do business in this state and that such companies may be admitted into the state upon the same terms and conditions under which foreign life
“Every such company, on applying for admission and authority to transact business in this state, and as a condition precedent to obtaining any such authority, shall file in the insurance department its written consent, irrevocable, that actions may be commenced against such company in the proper court of any county in this state in which the cause of action shall arise or in which the plaintiff may reside by the service of process on the superintendent of insurance of this state, and stipulating and agreeing that such service shall be taken and held in all courts to be as valid and binding as if due service had been made upon the president or chief officer of such corporation. Such consent shall be executed by the president and secretary of the company, authenticated by the seal of the corporation, and shall be accompanied by a duly certified copy of the order or resolution of the board of directors, trustees or managers authorizing the said president and secretary to execute the same. Actions against any such insurance company may be brought in any county where the cause of action arose or in which the plaintiff may reside.” (Gen. Stat. 1909, § 4122.)
The contention of appellant is that the consent referred to, in which the company agrees that actions against it may be commenced in the county, in which the cause of action arose or in which the plaintiff resides, is an effectual waiver of the right of removal to the federal courts. The purpose of the legislature in enacting the provision must be derived from the language used in it. It will be observed that the consent and agreement spoken of relates only to the courts in which actions against the company may be commenced and does not profess to prohibit the removal or appeal of cases that have been commenced in the proper court.
Where a statute is open to a construction that will
An argument against removal is based on the provision of the general corporation act, to the effect that foreign corporations admitted to do business in the state shall be subject to the same judicial control as domestic corporations. (Gen. Stat. 1909, § 1724.) They are subject to judicial control in the sense that they may be sued in the state, and that the laws of the state applicable to them may be enforced against them in the courts. Some of our laws which apply to one class of domestic corporations are
The judgment of the district court is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.