Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 10.djvu/710

 698 FEDERAL REPORTER. �that aeknowledgment of service o£ such process by him, for or on behalf of such Company, shallbe obligatory on it, and that judgment recovered on such serv- ice or aeknowledgment shall be conclusive evidence of the indebtedness of the Company. �« 4c * «in « « « « �" 4. Be it f urther enacted, that any person who shall, af ter the first day of AprJl, 1877, act as agent of any Insurance company not incorporated by the laws of this state, in taking any risks, or transactiiig any business, or receiv- ing any premiums on policies issued or to be issued, without an appoint- ment made and flled in accordance with the provisions of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished with fine and imprisonment, or both, at the discretion of the court." �Upon the judgment in Louisiana, thus described, suit was brought in this court, the defendant company having its principal office and officers in Eichmond. �The defendant pleaded in substance : �(1) ihat it had complied f ully with the law of Louisiana, requiring, among other things, of non-resident Insurance companies the appointment of a gen- erai agent, authorized to receive and acknowledge service of process. �After setting eut in detail the provisions of the law, and averring a compliance with them by the defendant, the plea avers that the gen- erai agent appointed by it was one Douglas West, and that no other person had authority to aooept or receive service of process in its bebalf. �The defendant furthermore pleaded in substance: �(2) That the said John W. Taber, mentioned in the record as having been served with process in the suit in Louisiana, and alleged to be defendant's agent, was not its agent, and had not been appointed by it for such purpose, and had no authority nor power to receive service of said process in behalf of the defendant, and that notice to the defendant through said Taber as its agent was illegal and futile, and without its authority. �To these pleas the plaintiff replied in substance : �(1) That the defendant ought not to be admitted to plead the said plea be- cause the record of the suit in Louisiana shows that citation to answer the plaintiff 's demand having been duly served on an agent of the defendant, pur- suant to the laws of Louisiana, and the defendant liaving appeared, as shown by the record, did then and there plead that it had not been legally cited, and that the person upon whom process was served was not such an agent of defendant as that such service of process would bind the defendant to bring it into court, which said matters and things weie the same as are now pleaded here ; and that thereupon the court in Louisiana adjudged that the defendant had been legally cited, and that the person upon whom process was served ��� �