Ragan v. Merchants Transfer & Warehouse Co. (337 U.S. 530)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 20, 1949 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 337 U.S. 530 · 69 S. Ct. 1233
- Decided
- June 20, 1949
- Term
- October Term 1948
- Vote
- 8–1
- Majority author
- Justice Douglas
- Issue area
- Federalism
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Opinion of the Court by Mr. Justice Douglas, announced by Mr. Justice Reed. This case, involving a highway accident which occurred on October 1, 1943, came to the District Court for Kansas by reason of diversity of citizenship. Petitioner instituted it there on September 4, 1945, by filing the complaint with the court — the procedure specified by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. As prescribed by those Rules, a summons was issued. Service' was had on December 28, 1945. Kansas has a two-year statute of limitations applicable to such tort claims. Respondent pleaded it and moved for summary judgment. Petitioner claimed that the filing of the complaint tolled the statute. Respondent argued that by reason of a Kansas statute the statute of limitations was not tolled until service of the summons. The District Court struck the defense and denied respondent’s motion. A trial was had and a verdict rendered for petitioner. The Court of Appeals reversed. 170 F. 2d 987. It ruled, after a review of Kansas authorities, that the requirement of service of summons within the statutory period was an integral part of that state’s statute of limitations. It accordingly held that Guaranty Trust Co. v. York, 326 U. S. 99, governed and that respondent’s motion for summary judgment- should have been sustained. The case is here on a petition for certiorari which we granted because of the…
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