Mechanical Contractors Association of America, Inc., a Corporation v. Mechanical Contractors Association of Northern California, Inc., a Corporation

Mechanical Contractors Association of America, Inc., (the National), appeals under 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (b), and pursuant to our permission, from an order denying its motion to quash service of a summons and complaint and other accompanying documents, and to dismiss the complaint and the action. The action was brought by Mechanical Contractors Association of Northern California, Inc., (the Local), in the California Superior Court at San Francisco. The complaint alleges that the National is a New York corporation, having its principal office in New York; that it has no agent appointed for the service of process in California, and that the Local is a California corporation, having its principal office in San Francisco.

Service of process upon the National was first made by serving one of its officers in California. The National then removed the action to the United States District Court on grounds of diversity of citizenship, and there moved to quash the service on the ground that it had not been made in the manner prescribed by the California statute (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §§ 410-411). This motion was granted. The Local then obtained an order that service of the summons and complaint…