{ "id": 1447057, "name": "Murray Tool & Supply Company v. State, Use Craweord County", "name_abbreviation": "Murray Tool & Supply Co. v. State", "decision_date": "1942-03-02", "docket_number": "4-6673", "first_page": "874", "last_page": "877", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "203 Ark. 874" }, { "type": "parallel", "cite": "159 S.W.2d 71" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "Ark.", "id": 8808, "name": "Arkansas Supreme Court" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 34, "name_long": "Arkansas", "name": "Ark." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "259 S. W. 412", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.W.", "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "163 Ark. 211", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ark.", "case_ids": [ 1383792 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ark/163/0211-01" ] }, { "cite": "18 S. W. 1055", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.W.", "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "55 Ark. 625", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ark.", "case_ids": [ 1322355 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ark/55/0625-01" ] }, { "cite": "38 S. W. 902", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.W.", "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "63 Ark. 268", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ark.", "case_ids": [ 8722170 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ark/63/0268-01" ] }, { "cite": "46 Am. St. Rep. 162", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Am. St. Rep.", "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "27 L. R. A. 505", "category": "reporters:federal", "reporter": "L.R.A.", "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "29 S. W. 34", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.W.", "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "60 Ark. 120", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ark.", "case_ids": [ 1903684 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ark/60/0120-01" ] }, { "cite": "171 S. W. 136", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.W.", "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "115 Ark. 166", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ark.", "case_ids": [ 1533784 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ark/115/0166-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 473, "char_count": 7111, "ocr_confidence": 0.519, "pagerank": { "raw": 1.1042241419627633e-07, "percentile": 0.5691447648106125 }, "sha256": "a33e8fddd5ec67fa56b8681b4debd240a8d9eefd36b2e7c2415e9eeb36e59246", "simhash": "1:9c746cc7061e2988", "word_count": 1204 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T23:00:45.785345+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [], "parties": [ "Murray Tool & Supply Company v. State, Use Craweord County." ], "opinions": [ { "text": "G-rieein Smith, C. J.\nA corporation designated Arkansas Oil and Mining Company prospected in Crawford county for oil. Another corporation\u2014Murray Tool and Supply Company\u2014is domiciled at Tulsa, Okla.\nIn an action brought by the prosecuting attorney under authority of \u00a7\u00a7 2247 to 2250, it was alleged that the Oklahoma corporation transacted business in this state without having complied with statutory requirements. A penalty of $2,500 was sought. The cause was tried by the circuit judge without a jury. Judgment was for $1,000.\nIt is undisputed that appellant supplied not less than 1,500 feet of casing for the Crawford county well. The defending corporation contends it had a contract to furnish the casing for a rental charge of $150, with the right to reclaim it if the hole did not produce oil. In addition, assignment of royalty interests owned by Arkansas Oil and Mining Company was to have been made. This contract, according to appellant, was consummated and evidenced by a writing, but was not signed because of difficulty in securing a meeting of the board of directors.\nOil was not produced, and Arkansas Oil and Mining Company became insolvent. It is conceded by appellant that it employed W. M. Hall to \u201cpull\u201d the casing. Hall assumed duties, according to witnesses for appellee, not directly connected with preservation or recovery of the casing, covering a period of thirty-six days.\nBay Everett, appellant\u2019s president, testified the interest his company would acquire was one-tenth of the oil, in the event of production. Hall was sent to \u201ckeep an eye\u201d on the casing and to prevent improper use. Everett made three or four trips to check on its use.\nThere is substantial proof that Hall\u2019s activities were not confined to the casing transaction. Equipment was sent from Oklahoma for salvage purposes, and was used under directions of appellant. The Oil and Mining Company had purchased about $1,400 worth of machinery from appellant, some of which, according to Everett, had been paid for.\nJ. E. Dotson, on behalf of appellee, testified that Everett offered to supply the Oil and Mining Company with anything\u2019 needed, and pay would be \u00a3 \u00a3 oil or nothing. \u2019 \u2019\nWe think the proof is susceptible, in part, of the construction placed upon,it by appellee: appellant did not rely upon $150 as rental for the casing; it furnished other items of equipment, and compensation was to be in oil. But does this, as a matter of law, place the Oklahoma corporation in the attitude of doing business in Arkansas? The contract appears to have been made in Oklahoma. - Certainly the writing was an Oklahoma contract.\nThe holding in Clark v. The J. R. Watkins Medical Company, 115 Ark. 166, 171 S. W. 136, was that the Act of 1907, p. 774, does not apply to a foreign corporation engaged solely in interstate commerce, but that it does apply where such corporation employs an agent who does business for it within the state.\nA liberal construction was given Art. 12, \u00a7 11, of the constitution, and Acts of 1887, \u00a7 1, p. 234, when it was held in Florsheim Bros. Dry Goods Co. v. Lester, 60 Ark. 120, 29 S. W. 34, 27 L. R. A. 505, 46 Am. St. Rep. 162, that the taking of a single mortgage by a foreign corporation to secure a past-due debt, with no apparent intention to transact other business within the state, was not \u201cdoing business\u201d within the meaning of the statute and the constitutional prohibition.\nIn Sunny South Lumber Co. v. Neimeyer Lumber Co., 63 Ark. 268, 38 S. W. 902, it was said in a headnote: \u201cA foreign corporation, engaged in its business of buy- ' ing and selling lumber, to which a citizen of Arkansas becomes indebted in another state, may secure such debt by taking a mortgage on personal property in this state, without first appointing an agent in Arkansas, as the taking of a mortgage under such circumstances is not \u2018doing business\u2019 in the state, within the statute relating to foreign corporations. \u201d\nIn White River Lumber Co. v. Southwestern Improvement Association, 55 Ark. 625, 18 S. W. 1055, it was held that in a suit by a foreign corporation to enforce a contract for the lease of land situated in this state, it was not a defense that the corporation had done business in the state, and had not complied with the Act of April 4, 1887, unless it should appear that the contract sued on was made in this state, or in the course of business done here. Mr. Justice Hemingway, who wrote the court\u2019s opinion, said:\n\u201cThe law affords no relief upon contracts made against its prohibition; but relief is withheld, not because the plaintiff has done illeg-al acts, but because the cause of action is a part of or connected with them. Although the plaintiff may have violated provisions of the law in particular transactions, it does not refuse relief upon a contract not connected with or a part of the prohibited acts.\u201d\nIn Stone v. Riggs, 163 Ark. 211, 259 S. W. 412, the question was whether legal effect of a written agreement was such that the Butler-McMurray Drilling Company, \u2018 \u2018 or the members thereof, \u2019 \u2019 became associated in business as partners with Alphonzo Biggs and William Pautz. The second headnote to this case is: \u201cAn agreement between two persons interested in developing oil lands.and the owners of a drilling outfit, which required the owners of the outfit to deliver it for use in the drilling of wells, and that they should receive one-eighth in the leases, did not render the owners partners with those interested in the development of the wells.\u201d\nThis case deals with an alleged partnership, and does not, of course, come within the penalty-statute; but it is authority for the proposition that a contract wherein personal property was let on consideration that compensation should 'be in oil did not create a relationship upon which liability of other parties could be predicated.\nThe general rule, as stated by editors of Corpus Juris, vol. 14-A, \u201c Corporations, \u201d' \u00a7 3977, is that when a foreign corporation transacts some substantial part of its ordinary business in a state, it is \u201cdoing business\u201d therein, within the meaning of penal statutes.\nBecause the statute is highly penal it should not be invoked except in cases where the evidence warrants a belief that the corporation is, in fact, doing business within the state. Accepting oil leases and relying upon expectant production for compensation under a contract made in Oklahoma is not a transaction detrimental to public welfare. At most the Oklahoma corporation was only looking after development, of property in which it had an interest in expectancy, and the activities of Hall were nothing more than precautionary supervision in respect of personal property let to Arkansas Oil and Mining Company on terms that might, or might not, produce returns. It was a speculative venture carried out pursuant to an Oklahoma contract.\nThe judgment is reversed, and the cause is dismissed.", "type": "majority", "author": "G-rieein Smith, C. J." } ], "attorneys": [ "Fist, Duberry & Bragg and R. S. Wilson, for appellant.", "Ray Blair and Carl K. Creehmore, for appellee." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "Murray Tool & Supply Company v. State, Use Craweord County.\n4-6673\n159 S. W. 2d 71\nOpinion delivered March 2, 1942.\nFist, Duberry & Bragg and R. S. Wilson, for appellant.\nRay Blair and Carl K. Creehmore, for appellee." }, "file_name": "0874-01", "first_page_order": 892, "last_page_order": 895 }