 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Hoskinson v. California12/13/1990
ntial connection' . . . between the defendant and the forum State necessary for a finding of minimum contacts must come about by an action of the defendant purposefully directed toward the forum State. " (Citation omitted; emphasis original.)
As our supreme court noted in Batton v. Tennessee Farmers Mut. Ins. Co., 153 Ariz. 268, 273, 736 P.2d 2, 7 (1987), "if a defendant purposefully directs its activities at a particular forum, and the effects of its activities are reasonably foreseeable, jurisdiction is proper because the defendant can reasonably anticipate being called to account for its own actions." As this statement implies, however, and as the supreme
court has reiterated, foreseeability of the effects of one's conduct is not alone sufficient. The defendant must also have purposefully directed his conduct or activities at the forum state. In the present case, even assuming that the defendants should have foreseen or did foresee that Atwood would travel to Arizona and sexually assault a child here, there has been no showing of any kind that the defendants' conduct with respect to Atwood was in any way purposefully directed toward Arizona. Accordingly, the assertion of specific jurisdiction in Arizona would violate due process.
Plaintiffs seek to avoid this result by arguing as to California that it is not a person within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment and is therefore not entitled to due process. Accordingly, they argue, the cases requiring minimum contacts for purposes of acquiring jurisdiction are simply inapposite. For this proposition, they cite two cases arising in very different contexts and not addressing due process, Will v. Michigan Department of State Police, 491 U.S. , 109 S.Ct. 2304, 105 L.Ed.2d 45 (1989) and Pennsylvania v. New Jersey, 426 U.S. 660, 96 S.Ct. 2333, 49 L.Ed.2d 124 (1976). Moreover, this construction would mean that any state could be sued in any other state on any claim and would constitute a massive intrusion on traditional notions of federalism. Because Chavez v. State of Indiana, 122 Ariz. 560, 596 P.2d 698 (1979), required that due process tests be met to obtain personal jurisdiction over a state, and no case has held the contrary, we reject the argument.
Plaintiffs also contend that general jurisdiction may be asserted over the defendant State of California because its contacts with this state are so routine and continuous apart from the present case that it should be treated as doing business here. As a general proposition, general jurisdiction may be asserted over a nonresident defendant who has substantial or continuous and systematic contacts with the forum state whether or not related to the subject matter of the lawsuit. Helicopteros Nacionales de Columbia, S.A. v. Hall, supra ; Batton v. Tennessee Farmers Mut. Ins. Co., supra. However, we have been cited to no decision, nor found any, upholding the assertion of general jurisdiction by one state over another. While Nevada v. Hall, 440 U.S. 410, 99 S.Ct. 1182, 59 L.Ed.2d 416 (1979), makes it clear that one state may be sued in the courts of another when specific jurisdiction is asserted, nothing in that case suggests that the courts of one state are free to assert jurisdiction over another state regardless of whether the subject of the suit involves activities of the defendant state directed at the forum state. The restrictions on jurisdiction arising out of the Due Process Clause "are a consequence of territorial limitations on the power of the respective States." Hanson v. Denckla, 357 U.S. 235, 251, 78 S.Ct. 1228, 1238, 2 L.Ed.2d 1283, 12
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 Arizona Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|