Swanson Painting Company v. Painters Local Union No. 260

This is an interlocutory appeal from a district court order denying defendant’s motion to quash the service of process for lack of personal jurisdiction over defendant or, in the alternative, to dismiss the cause or transfer it to another district on venue grounds.

Plaintiff, Painters Local Union No. 260, of Great Falls, Montana, commenced this action against Swanson Painting Company, a Washington corporation, in the United States District Court for the District of Montana. The suit was brought under section 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 (Act), 61 Stat. 156 , 29 U.S.C. § 185 (a) (1964), to recover damages for violation of a contract between an employer and a labor organization. Personal service of the summons and complaint was made on Swan B. Swanson, president of the company, at Woodinville, Washington.

The company, which has its principal place of business in Western Washington, is a painting contractor. It has never been licensed to do business in Montana. However, on January 11, 1966, the company entered into a contract with the United States to paint three hundred housing units and repair thirty-one carport slabs at Malmstrom Air Force Base, a federal…