Bird v. Sleppy

Citations

• 265 Pa. 295
• 108 A. 618
• 1919 Pa. LEXIS 543

Syllabus

<p>Equity — Extraterritorial service of process — Act of April 6, 1859, P. L. 887 — “Principal defendant?’ — Practice—Equity.</p> <p>1. Although a bill in equity may aver a state of facts which prima facie shows a person to be a principal defendant, if, in fact, he is not such defendant, and an extraterritorial service is made under the Act of April 6, 1859, P. L. 387, which is challenged by the person served, the status of the “principal defendant” as such, becomes a question of fact for preliminary determination.</p> <p>2. A resident defendant, in a bill in equity to cancel a lease on allegation of fraud, who is not a party to the lease and has no legal rights in the lease, but is alleged to have been a party to the fraud, is not a principal defendant to the suit, so as to invoke extraterritorial service upon a nonresident defendant in the manner prescribed by the Act of April 6, 1859, P. L. 387.</p> <p>3. In such a case, the test under the Act of April 6, 1859, P. L. 387, for the service of a writ outside the jurisdiction of the court, is not the apparent fraud averred in the bill, but, what is the relief sought, and does the relief sought necessarily involve rights of the person charged as being the principal defendant, so that his presence is necessary to the validity of the decree ?</p> <p>4. A principal defendant is one who has an interset in the controversy presented by the bill, and whose presence is requisite to the complete or partial adjudication of the controversy.</p>