Barnett v. Texas & P. Ry. Co.
Cases that cite this one
18 later published cases cite this decision.
- Mary Scanapico v. Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad Company, and Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company and Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company (2d Cir. 1970)
- Gelfand v. Tanner Motor Tours, Ltd. (2d Cir. 1964)
- Gelfand v. Tanner Motor Tours, Ltd. (2d Cir. 1964)
- Barrett v. Boston & Maine Railroad (N.H. 1962)
- Hayman v. Southern Pacific Company (Mo. 1955)
- Insurance Co. of North America v. Lone Star Package Car Co. (District Court, S.D. Texas 1952)
- Healing v. Isbrandtsen Co. (District Court, S.D. New York 1952)
- Perkins v. Louisville & N. R. Co. (United States District Court for the Southern District of California 1951)
- Moore v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. (District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania 1951)
- Pan American Airways, Inc. v. Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corp. (District Court, S.D. New York 1949)
- Kilpatrick v. Texas & P. Ry. Co. (2d Cir. 1948)
- Kilpatrick v. Texas & P. Ry. Co. (District Court, S.D. New York 1947)
- Geller v. Macon, Dublin & Savannah Railroad (City of New York Municipal Court 1947)
- Kilpatrick v. Texas & P. Ry. Co. (District Court, S.D. New York 1947)
- Bomze v. Nardis Sportswear, Inc. (District Court, S.D. New York 1946)
- Landaas v. Canister Co. (District Court, S.D. New York 1946)
- Snyder v. J. G. White Engineering Corp. (District Court, S.D. New York 1945)
- Minker v. Pennsylvania R. (District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania 1945)
This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.
Opinion
BARNETT
v.
TEXAS & P. RY. CO.
Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.
*801 *802 *803 Osmond K. Fraenkel, of New York City, for appellant.
Cravath, Swaine & Moore, of New York City (Albert R. Connelly and Frank M. McGarry, both of New York City, of counsel), for appellee.
Before SWAN, CLARK, and FRANK, Circuit Judges.
FRANK, Circuit Judge.
Defendant contends that the district court correctly held that its decision was compelled by the "solicitation" doctrine of Green v. Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co., 205 U.S. 530, 27 S.Ct. 595, 51 L.Ed. 916. But in International Harvester v. Kentucky, 234 U.S. 579, 586, 34 S.Ct. 944, 58 L.Ed. 1479, the Court referred to the Green case as "extreme." In Hutchinson v. Chase & Gilbert, 2 Cir., 45 F.2d 139, 141, this court, per Judge L. Hand, said: "Possibly the maintenance of a regular agency for the solicitation of business will serve without more. The answer made in Green v. C., B. & Q. R. R. Co., 205 U. S. 530, 27 S.Ct. 595, 51 L.Ed. 916, and *804 People's Tobacco Co. v. American Tobacco Company, 246 U.S. 79, 38 S.Ct. 233, 62 L. Ed. 587, Ann.Cas.1918C, 537, perhaps becomes somewhat doubtful in the light of International Harvester Co. v. Kentucky, 234 U.S. 579, 34 S.Ct. 944, 58 L.Ed. 1479, and if it still remains true, it readily yields to slight additions." See also Jacobowitz v. Thomson, 2 Cir., 141 F.2d 72.[1] Here there were more than "slight additions", i. e., the actual selling of tickets for transportation on defendant's line and the issuance of bills of lading in New York (to say nothing of the handling of complaints.)[2] It is urged that not many of these acts occurred each year. But those acts were authorized by defendant which put no limit on the number of such acts that its employees might perform. We think that the authorized performance of such acts constitutes doing business in New York, even if the volume of freight and passenger business initiated in New York is not as great as, we may surmise, defendant would like it to be. As plaintiff is a citizen and resident of New York, it cannot be said that the suit is an undue burden on interstate commerce. Cf. Baltimore & Ohio R. Co. v. Kepner, 314 U.S. 44, 51, 62 S.Ct. 6, 86 L.Ed. 28, 136 A.L.R. 1222; Miles v. Illinois Central R. Co., 315 U.S. 698, 701, 62 S.Ct. 827, 86 L.Ed. 1129, 146 A.L.R. 1104.[3] Accordingly, on the facts of this case,[4] we decide that defendant was doing business in New York and that it was properly served there by service on Hunt.
Reversed.
SWAN, Circuit Judge (dissenting).
I agree with the view of the district judge that the case is controlled by Green v. Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co., 205 U.S. 530, 27 S.Ct. 595, 51 L.Ed. 916, and Philadelphia & Reading Ry. Co. v. McKibbin, 243 U.S. 264, 268, 37 S.Ct. 280, 61 L.Ed. 710.
NOTES
[1] The "solicitation" rule was recently criticized severely by Judge Rutledge (now Mr. Justice Rutledge) in Frene v. Louisville Cement Co., 77 U.S.App.D.C. 129, 134 F.2d 511, 516, 146 A.L.R. 926. As that case dealt not with a railroad but a commercial business, we cite it not as a precedent but for its general discussion.
[2] Cf. St. Louis, Southwestern R. Co. of Texas v. Alexander, 227 U.S. 218, 33 S.Ct. 245, 57 L.Ed. 486, Ann.Cas.1915B, 77; Missouri, K. & T. R. Co. v. Reynolds, 255 U.S. 565, 41 S.Ct. 446, 65 L. Ed. 788.
[3] Defendant suggests that it established its office in New York and its present mode of activity there in reliance upon such precedents as Green v. Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co., supra. But International Harvester v. Kentucky, supra, decided in 1914, and Hutchinson v. Chase & Gilbert, supra, decided in 1930, gave defendant warning that such precedents were not likely to protect it from such suits as this.
[4] That each such case turns on its own facts, see e.g., International Harvester v. Kentucky, supra.
As to the character and reviewability of the determination of "fact" in such cases, cf. Baumgartner v. United States, 322 U.S. 665, 671, 64 S.Ct. 1240.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.