Hill v. Summa Corporation
Hill v. Summa Corporation
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
By the Court,
Appellant Hill, one of several defendants in an action respondent Summa Corporation commenced in Clark County, has appealed an order denying his motion to change venue to Nye County, where he resides.
In addition to designating appellant Hill and several others as defendants under their actual names, the complaint by which
Appellant challenges the district court’s ruling, contending that respondent’s new pleading involved mere than a mere “amendment” of the kind NRCP 15(a) permits “once as a matter of course at any time before a responsive pleading is served.” Rather, appellant contends, respondent actually sought to “add a party,” which may only be accomplished on motion pursuant to NRCP 21, and therefore respondent’s “First Amended Complaint” was ineffective to defeat appellant’s motion for change of venue.
Of course, if it cannot be said that a resident of Clark County was properly a defendant, then absent consent or waiver, NRS 13.040 vests the true parties defendant with a right to object to the action proceeding there. See, for example: Stocks v. Stocks, 64 Nev. 431, 183 P.2d 617 (1947); Williams v. Keller, 6 Nev. 141 (1870). On the other hand, in Byers v. Graton, 82 Nev. 92, 94-95, 411 P.2d 480, 481 (1966), this court declared:
“The pertinent words of NRS 13.040 state that ‘the action
To support the proposition that NRCP 21 precludes “adding parties” through an amended pleading filed “of course” under NRCP 15(a), appellant cites several decisions, most from federal district courts. See: Rash v. C. & M. Corporation, 218 A.2d 670 (Del. 1966); Zackery v. Mutual Security Savings & Loan Ass’n, 206 A.2d 580 (D.C.App. 1965); International Bro. of Teamsters v. American Fed. of Labor, 32 F.R.D. 441 (E.D.Mich. S.D. 1963); Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. Fibreboard Products, 116 F.Supp. 377 (N.D. Cal. S.D. 1953); National Maritime Union of America v. Curran, 87 F.Supp. 423 (S.D.N.Y. 1949); Mitchell v. Carborundum Co., 7 F.R.D. 523 (W.D.N.Y. 1947). None are in point; for none concerned a rule like NRCP 10(a), which this court adopted upon recommendation of our Advisory Committee. Here, we need not decide whether the reasoning of such cases is valid. We would have analogous facts only if respondent’s counsel had not originally employed the pleading privilege granted by NRCP 10(a).
In our view, when a plaintiff’s counsel has properly utilized NRCP 10(a), adequately alleging intended defendants and present uncertainty as to their names, stating the names later in an amended pleading cannot be equated with “adding” totally new parties to the action. Cf. Knight v. Witco Chemical Co., 89 Nev. 586, 517 P.2d 792 (1973). Then, at least, there is no reason an amendment stating the names should be regarded differently under NRCP 15(a) than any other facts counsel may wish to correct or clarify by filing an amended pleading “once as a matter of course.” By virtue of NRCP 10(a), the designated but unnamed defendants are already parties in legal contemplation. A subsequent amendment, stating their actual names, therefore relates back to commencement of the action as provided in NRCP 15 (c) .
We do not wish to suggest that we would here adopt the
“For a century, our settled law has been that any ‘special’ motion involving judicial discretion that affects the rights of another, as contrasted to motions ‘of course,’ must be made on notice even where no rule expressly requires notice to obtain the particular order sought, except only when this requirement is altered to meet extraordinary situations such as those concerned in NRCP 65(b).” 88 Nev. at 34, 493 P.2d at 714; Turner v. Saka, 90 Nev. 54, 518 P.2d 608 (1974).
Moreover, we are not entirely persuaded that it would be useful or appropriate in Nevada to read NRCP 21 as ever limiting the right to “add parties,” when an amended pleading is filed “of course . . . before a responsive pleading is served.” At least one justification federal courts assign for their view, i.e. that otherwise a plantiff could oust the court’s diversity jurisdiction at will, cf. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. Fibre-board Products, supra, lacks significance in proceedings neither commenced in nor removed to federal court. As another state court has noted, the purpose of protecting diversity jurisdiction, “of course, was not carried over in our adoption of the Rule [21].” Rash v. C. & M. Corporation, supra, at 672.
From the record on appeal, it does not appear that other contentions concerning the propriety and bona fides of respondent’s pleadings were raised in the court below. Hence, we will not consider such matters on appeal. Cummings v. City of Las Vegas Mun. Corp., 88 Nev. 479, 499 P.2d 650 (1972); Britz v. Consolidated Casinos Corp., 87 Nev. 441, 488 P.2d 911 (1971).
Affirmed.
The order is appealable. NRAP 3A(b)(2):
NRCP 10(a) provides:
“Caption; Names of Parties. ... A party whose name is not known may be designated by any name, and when his true name is discovered, the pleading may be amended accordingly.”
NRS 13.040 provides:
“Venue in other cases. In all other cases [than those concerned in prior sections], the action shall be tried in the county in which the defendants, or any one of them, may reside at the commencement of the action; . . .”
NRCP 15(a) provides:
“Amendments. A party may amend his pleading once as a matter of course at any time before a responsive pleading is served . . . .”
NRCP 21 provides:
“. . . Parties may be dropped or added by order of the court on motion of any party or of its own initiative at any stage of the action and on such terms as are just. . .
NRCP 15(c) provides:
"Relation Back of Amendments. Whenever the claim or defense asserted in the amended pleading arose out of the conduct, transaction, or occurrence set forth or attempted to be set forth in the original pleading, the amendment relates back to the date of the original pleading.”
Concurring Opinion
concurring:
I wish to emphasize that today’s opinion does not purport to determine the meaning of Rule 10(a).
Rule 10(a) is the successor to NCL 8641 which, in turn, was borrowed from Cal. C.C.P. 474, presumably with the construction given it by the California court. State ex rel. Brennan v. Bowman, 88 Nev. 582, 585, 503 P.2d 454 (1972).
The rule does not refer to a party who is not known. It does refer
The primary purpose of the Rule apparently is to enable the plaintiff to bring suit before it is barred by limitations. Austin v. Massachusetts Bonding & Insurance Co., 364 P.2d 681, 684 (Cal. 1961); cf. Servatius v. United Resort Hotel, 85 Nev. 371, 455 P.2d 621 (1969).
When the case truly is one within Rule 10(a) and the true name of a defendant is substituted for the fictitious name, then, and only then, is he to be considered a party to the action from its commencement. The opposite is true when the case does not fall within the intendment of the Rule and the complaint is amended to add the true name óf a defendant. Stephens v. Berry, 57 Cal.Rptr. 505 (Cal.App. 1967); Lipman v. Bhend, 28 Cal.Rptr 800 (Cal.App. 1963). See also: Herschfelt v. Knowles-Raymond Granite Company, 279 P.2d 104 (Cal.App. 1955), involving a motion to change venue.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- DENNIS HILL, Appellant, v. SUMMA CORPORATION, a Delaware Corporation, Respondent
- Cited By
- 15 cases
- Status
- Published