Farrell v. Piedmont Aviation, Inc.
Farrell v. Piedmont Aviation, Inc.
Opinion of the Court
These appeals are the latest fallout to reach this court from the much criticized decision in Seider v. Roth, 17 N.Y. 2d 111, 269 N.Y.S.2d 99, 216 N.E.2d 312 (1966), which we have recently declined to declare unconstitutional on the facts presented in Minichiello v. Rosen
The action, brought in the District Court for the Southern District of New York, stemmed from the collision of a Boeing jet aircraft operated in commercial service by Piedmont Aviation, Inc., and a Cessna private aircraft owned by Lanseair, Inc. and operated by Rapidair, Inc. The crash occurred over North Carolina. All seventy-four passengers and five crew members of the Piedmont jet and the pilot and both passengers of the Cessna were killed. Plaintiffs are New York citizens who have been appointed as administrators of the estates of 13 passengers of the Piedmont aircraft; eight of these were citizens of Mississippi, one of Texas, two of Tennessee, and two of Maryland.
Plaintiffs’ problem was how to acquire jurisdiction in New York with respect to Lanseair and Rapidair. They sought to meet it by availing themselves of Seider v. Roth and attaching the liability insurance policies issued to Lanseair and Rapidair respectively by Federal Insurance Company and St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, both doing business in New York.
At the outset we note and reject a challenge to our appellate jurisdiction. Lanseair and Rapidair contend that Judge Wyatt’s orders left undisturbed a service of in personam process attempted over them after the attachments had been obtained; that final dismissal of the action against them was effected only by an order of the District Court for the Western District of North Carolina after the transfer; that the orders here under attack are thus interlocutory; and that review of them can be had only by an appeal in the Fourth Circuit from the order of dismissal.
The argument flies in the face of the language of Judge Wyatt’s orders. These not only vacated the attachments
Appellants’ argument is straightforward — indeed, Judge Wyatt conceded it was “logical.” Nothing in the New York attachment statute, CPLR § 6201(1), limits that remedy to residents. They say therefore that if Lanseair or Rapidair had owned tangible property in New York or had accounts in New York banks, the attachments would have been valid if made in a state court and consequently were so in a federal action, F.R.Civ.P. 4(e).
Not reaching the constitutional issue, the district court pointed to statements in the two leading New York cases which it regarded as indicating that the Court of Appeals would limit Seider to suits by residents. Chief Judge Desmond wrote in Seider that there was “no policy reason against requiring the insurer to come in to New York and defend as to an accident which occurred in Vermont injuring New York residents,” 17 N.Y.2d at 114, 269 N.Y.S.2d at 102, 216
The only remaining argument, that the plaintiffs here are New York citizens, requires little discussion. There would be no basis in reason for different treatment of an action by a nonresident who suffered serious injuries or by a nonresident executor of a nonresident who was killed, on the one hand, and one by a New York citizen who had been appointed administrator of a nonresident decedent, on the other. The constitutional doubt arises from New York’s lack of meaningful contact with the claim; a court of another state cannot supply this by picking a New Yorker as administrator of the estate of a nonresident who suffered fatal injury.
Affirmed.
. Some of the decedents died intestate; others left wills. All the beneficiaries of the potential wrongful death recovery are also non-New Yorkers.
. The policy limits were $250,000 for Federal and $300,000 for St. Paul, substantially less than the claims of the 13 plaintiffs in this action, not to speak of the many other persons killed whose representatives have sued in North Carolina and, we understand, elsewhere.
. Appellants recognize that a New York court could nevertheless dismiss the action on the ground of forum non conveniens. See Bata v. Bata, 304 N.Y. 51, 105 N.E.2d 623, 625 (1952); Vaage v. Lewis, 29 A.D.2d 315, 288 N.Y.S. 2d 521 (2d Dept. 1968). Assuming that a similar dismissal would be available to a federal court despite the remedy afforded by 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), appellants say this would be improper in the instant case. A North Carolina statute, N.C.Gen.Stat. § 28-8(2), 28-173, requires any action for the death of an intestate decedent to be brought by a North Carolina resident appointed as administrator and this would defeat diversity since Piedmont is a North Carolina corporation. On the other hand the United States could not be sued in a North Carolina state court. Hence a New York federal court is the only one in which jurisdiction over all these defendants can be had in an action on behalf of decedents who died intestate. For reasons later indicated, we find it unnecessary to consider this. However, the facts do demonstrate the desirability of legislation that would permit— or, indeed, require — all claims arising out of a major airplane accident to be litigated in a single federal court. See S. 961, 91st Cong. 1st Sess., introduced by Senator Tydings, Feb. 7,1969.
. The parties have not discussed New York’s statutory restriction on the maintenance of actions against foreign corporations. Business Corporation Law, McKinney’s Consoi.Laws c. 4, § 1314 provides that a New York resident or a domestic corporation may sue a foreign corporation in the state courts upon any claim, but a nonresident or a foreign corporation may sue another foreign corporation only when either the claim sued upon or the defendant corporation has specified connections with the state. See also General Corporation Law, McKinney’s Consoi.Laws, e. 23, §§ 224-25. This limitation, “reflecting this State’s policy against lending its courts to the resolution of disputes between nonresident parties,” Simonson v. International Bank, 14 N.Y.2d 281, 251 N.Y.S.2d 433, 200 N.E.2d 427 (1962), limits the subject-matter jurisdiction of the courts and cannot be waived by the defendant. Davis v. Julius Kessler & Co., 118 Misc. 292, 194 N.Y.S. 9 (Sup.Ct. 1922); Fidan v. Austral American Trading Corp., 8 Misc. 2d 598, 168 N.Y.S.2d 27 (Sup.Ct. 1957); Electronic Race Patrol, Inc. v. National
If the nonresident accident victims represented by these plaintiffs were alive and were suing on their own behalf, we might thus be forced to conclude that Business Corporation Law § 1314 closed the federal courts’ doors to them against appellees. It is a question of state law whether the action stands differently under that section simply because the victims have died and New York residents have been appointed to administer their estates. The state courts have long held, under § 1314 and its predecessors, that a resident to whom a claim has been assigned for the sole purpose of enabling him to bring suit may maintain an action in the state court although the assignor could not. See McCauley v. Georgia R. Bank, 239 N.Y. 514, 147 N.E. 175 (1924); Banque de France v. Supreme Court, supra; Cincis v. Seaboard Air Line Ry., 201 Misc. 887, 113 N.Y.S.2d 29 (Sup.Ct. 1952). Apparently this holds true as long as the assignment on its face transfers title, without regard to the consideration paid or the use to be made of the proceeds of the claim. Segal Lock & Hardware Co. v. Markey, 124 N.Y.S.2d 181 (Sup.Ct. 1953). We might expect the state courts to be equally willing to countenance avoidance of § 1314 by appointment of a resident administrator, although we have not found a decision that establishes this. Cf. Robinson v. Oceanic Steam Nav. Co., 112 N.Y. 315, 19 N.E. 625, 2 L.R.A. 636 (1889); Silberfeld v. Swiss Bank Corp., 183 Misc. 234, 50 N.Y.S.2d 838 (Sup. Ct.), aff’d, 268 App.Div. 984, 52 N.Y.S. 2d 583 (1st Dept. 1944). In the absence of a contrary indication we proceed on the assumption that the state courts would not hold this suit barred by § 1314.
. Appellants urge that limitation of Seider v. Roth to New York residents may itself create a constitutional problem. For reasons indicated in Minichiello v. Rosenberg, supra, 410 F.2d at 110, n. 6, we see no basis for this where, as in that case, the only persons injured were residents or where, as here, nonreisdents have invoked Seider but no resident has. We have reserved the question of constitutionality where a resident seeks to utilize Seider to obtain what amounts to a preference over a nonresident. See Minichiello v. Rosenberg, 410 F.2d at 119 (en banc).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- George E. FARRELL, as Administrator de bonis non of the Estate of Wyand F. Doerner, Jr. v. PIEDMONT AVIATION, INC., The Boeing Company and United States of America, and Rapidair, Inc., and Lanseair, Inc.
- Cited By
- 26 cases
- Status
- Published