Mahlon Pitney, Grannis v. Ordean — Opinion of the Court
“ If a defendant within the jurisdiction is served personally with process in which his name is misspelled, he cannot safely ignore it on account of the misnomer. The rule, established by an abundant weight of authority, is, that if a person is sued by a wrong name, and he fails to appear and plead the misnomer in abatement, the judgment binds him. ”
Mahlon Pitney, Grannis v. Ordean — Opinion of the Court
“ Were we to theorize, we might say that while each of these tests is helpful, neither is altogether acceptable if perfect accuracy were the aim; not the test of idem sonans, because it does not appear that all persons would necessarily pronounce Geilfuss with the long 'i,' or Guilfuss with the short 'i;' and not the test of the appearance of the names as printed and placed in juxtaposition, because in fact, as the name appeared in the summons published and mailed, it was 'Guilfuss' alone, without any name in juxtaposition to serve as a standard for comparison. ”
Mahlon Pitney, Grannis v. Ordean — Opinion of the Court
“ It is not disputed that the statutory scheme of publication and mailing, as established in Minnesota, for giving notice to nonresident defendants in actions quasi in rem, is, in its general application, sufficient to comply with the 14th Amendment. But the statute provides that 'the summons shall be addressed by name to all the owners and lien holders who are known;' and the contention is that the mistake of name in the present instance was fatal. ”
