Harlan F. Stone

“ Arguing that 'action' means only 'cross-action' and not the original action brought by the plaintiff, the Texas court concluded that a plaintiff who has not appeared in the cross-action must be served with summons 'as upon the commencement of an original action.' But the word 'action,' even if susceptible of such meaning, cannot be so interpreted in the face of the pleaded California decisions which hold that a cross-complaint may be served on the attorney of one who is already a party to the original action. ”

“ There is nothing in the Fourteenth Amendment to prevent a state from adopting a procedure by which a judgment in personam may be rendered in a cross-action against a plaintiff in its courts, upon service of process or of appropriate pleading upon his attorney of record. The plaintiff having, by his voluntary act in demanding justice from the defendant, submitted himself to the jurisdiction of the court, there is nothing arbitrary or unreasonable in treating him as being there for all purposes for which justice to the defendant requires his presence. ”

“ In ruling that the service in the California suit was unauthorized, the Texas Court of Civil Appeals said: 'The cross-action was not an ancillary proceeding, but an independent suit in which a final judgment could be rendered without awaiting a decision in the original suit. Farar v. Steenbergh, 173 Cal. 94, 159 P. 707. It is well settled in this state that a cross-action occupies the attitude of an independent suit and requires service of the cross-action upon the cross-defendant. ”