Polizzi v. Cowles Magazines, Inc. (345 U.S. 663)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 1, 1953 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 345 U.S. 663 · 73 S. Ct. 900
- Decided
- June 1, 1953
- Term
- October Term 1952
- Vote
- 7–0
- Majority author
- Justice Minton
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Minton delivered the opinion of the Court. Respondent, an Iowa corporation which publishes Look magazine, maintains no offices in Florida, but sells its magazines to two independent wholesale companies which distribute them to retailers in Florida. Respondent does employ two “circulation road men” whose job is to check retail outlets in a multi-state area which includes Florida. These two road men cover separate and mutually exclusive districts, and neither exercises any supervision over the other. Petitioner, a resident of Florida, brought suit against Respondent in the Circuit Court of Dade County, Florida, for allegedly libelous matter printed in Look magazine. Respondent moved to dismiss or in lieu thereof to quash the return of service, made on an agent of one of the distributing wholesalers. Before the state court acted on this motion, Respondent removed the action to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. See 28 U. S. C. (Supp. V) §§ 1332, 1441, 1446, 1447 (b). That court issued an additional summons which was served on Briardy, one of Respondent’s road men, “as a managing agent of [Respondent] transacting business for it in the State of Florida . . . See 28 U. S. C. (Supp. V) § 1448; Fed. Rules Civ. Proc., 4(d)(3), (7); Fla. Stat. Ann., 1943, §47.17(5). On Petitioner’s motion, the original state court service was quashed.…
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