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Kotera v. Daioh International U.S.A. Corp.1/30/2002
Argued and submitted September 19, 2001.
Judgment dismissing ORICO claims under ORS 166.720 3 against Daioh Oregon, Nakai, and Majima reversed and remanded; otherwise affirmed.
This appeal arises from an action against eight defendants in which plaintiff asserted 18 claims of tortious misconduct arising out of three international business transactions. As relevant to this appeal, plaintiff alleged claims for fraudulent transfer of a trust deed, violation of the Oregon Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (ORICO), ORS 166.715 through 166.735 (1993), and various acts of misconduct associated with a real estate transaction in Japan. Because of the complex nature of the action, we introduce the parties and relevant claims and then explore the factual background in detail before turning to the legal issues.
We begin with the parties. Plaintiff Kosuke Kotera is a Japanese citizen who resides in Japan. Plaintiffs Sho International Corp. and World Link's Corp. are Oregon corporations controlled by Kotera and his father. Tadamasa Ohno was president and managing director of defendant Daioh Shoji (Daioh Japan), a Japanese company; Ohno died in November 1993, and his estate is named as a defendant in this action. Defendant Matashirou Yasufuku is Ohno's father-in-law. Defendant Yukiyoshi Majima is an employee of Daioh Japan. Defendant Daioh International, USA (Daioh Oregon), is an Oregon corporation that is a subsidiary of Daioh Japan. Defendants Shigeru Nakai and Tomo Sekiguchi are employees of Daioh Oregon. Defendant Ebisu Jutaku Co., Ltd. (Ebisu), is a Japanese company controlled by Ohno's father. The two Japanese companies--Daioh Japan and Ebisu--are interconnected in a number of respects. For example, business cards distributed by Ohno's father and other Ebisu employees listed both companies, and Daioh Japan's corporate informational materials identified Ebisu as an affiliated company. In addition, Ohno served as a member of the board of directors of Ebisu, his father's company, and his father performed a reciprocal role on the board of Daioh Japan, Ohno's company.
Plaintiff appeals from a summary judgment and a directed verdict in favor of Yasufuku that, in combination, fully disposed of plaintiff's fraudulent transfer claim against him. Plaintiff also appeals from directed verdicts in favor of defendants Ebisu, Daioh Oregon, Majima, and Nakai on claims related to a transaction involving a building in Japan and claims under ORICO. Yasufuku and Ebisu cross-assign error to the denial of their pretrial motions to dismiss all claims against them for lack of personal jurisdiction. We conclude that the trial court erred in asserting personal jurisdiction over Yasufuku and Ebisu and in dismissing ORICO claims against Daioh Oregon, Nakai, and Majima; otherwise, we affirm.
We state the evidence adduced at trial in the light most favorable to plaintiff. Paulson v. Western Life Insurance Co., 292 Or 38, 40 n 1, 636 P2d 935 (1981). Plaintiff became acquainted with Ohno socially in Japan in the late 1980s, and they discussed the possibility of business ventures in the United States and Japan. Ohno later suggested that plaintiff invest in Oregon real estate. In 1990, Ohno advised plaintiff to purchase a Portland office building (the Durham & Bates building). Ohno advised plaintiff that the sellers would artificially inflate the price of the building if the sellers knew that the buyer was a Japanese citizen. Accordingly, Ohno advised plaintiff that the best way to structure the transaction would be for Daioh Oregon to purchase the building, then sell it immediately to plaintiff. On Ohno's advice, plaintiff engaged the Daioh companies as his agents in the tr
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