JUDGMENTS-SETTING ASIDE-FAILURE OF "LOCAL AGENT" TO NOTIFY CORPORATION OF SERVICE OF SUMMONS

Authors

Lloyd J. Tyler, Jr., University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

Service of summons was made upon a ticket agent employed by a lessee of the defendant coach line in accordance with a North Carolina statute which provides that any person receiving or collecting money within the state for a corporation is a ''local agent" for the purpose of service of process. This agent did not notify the defendant corporation of the summons, and a default judgment was entered. On appeal it was held that the judgment should not be set aside for want of service of summons, since the ticket agent was within the statutory definition of ''local agent." The defendant then succeeded in having the judgment set aside under a North Carolina statute allowing a default judgment to be set aside in the discretion of the trial judge where the defendant can show mistake, inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect. On the second appeal, held, the trial judge correctly found excusable neglect where the defendant had no notice due to the neglect of the statutory agent. To hold as a matter of law that no relief could be granted under these circumstances would be a denial of due process of law. Townsend v. Carolina Coach Co., (N.C. 1949) 56 S.E. (2d) 39.

Recommended Citation

Lloyd J. Tyler, Jr., JUDGMENTS-SETTING ASIDE-FAILURE OF "LOCAL AGENT" TO NOTIFY CORPORATION OF SERVICE OF SUMMONS, 48 Mich. L. Rev. 1211 (1950).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol48/iss8/23