Federal Circuits, 5th Cir. (August 13, 1981)
Docket number: 79-3356
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http://vlex.com/vid/mary-jean-prejean-plaintiffs-sonatrach-38393205
Id. vLex: VLEX-38393205
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U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Cir. - Eladio Ruiz de Molina, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Merritt & Furman Insurance Agency, Inc., a Corporation; Skip Smith, Defendants-Appellees, Worldwide Marine Underwriters, a Corporation; Bob Luellen, an Individual, Defendants-Cross Defendants-Appellees. Eladio Ruiz de Molina, Plaintiff, v. Merritt & Furman Insurance Agency, Inc., a Corporation; Skip Smith, an Individual, Defendants-Cross-Claimants-Appellants, Worldwide Marine Underwriters, a Corporation; Bob Luellen, an Individual, Defendants-Cross-Defendants-Appellees., 207 F.3d 1351 (11th Cir. 2000) Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Merritt & Furman Insurance Agency, Inc., a Corporation; Skip Smith, Defendants-Appellees, Worldwide Marine Underwriters, a Corporation; Bob Luellen, an Individual, Defendants-Cross Defendants-Appellees. Eladio Ruiz de Molina, Plaintiff, v. Merritt & Furman Insurance Agency, Inc., a Corporation; Skip Smith, an Individual, Defendants-Cross-Claimants-Appellants, Worldwide Marine Underwriters, a Corporation; Bob Luellen, an Individual, Defendants-Cross-Defendants-Appellees.
Baron & Cowley, Frederick M. Baron, Russell Wills Budd, Dallas, Tex., for plaintiffs-appellants.
Vinson & Elkins, Louis E. McCarter, David H. Brown, Houston, Tex., for Sonatrach, Inc.Richard H. Caldwell, Gerald L. Bracht, Houston, Tex., for Beech Aircraft Corp.George N. Tompkins, Jr., Condon & Forsyth, Thomas J. Whalen and Lawrence Mentz, New York City, Alan S. Dale, Houston, Tex., for Air Algerie.Helene Allan Alt, Houston, Tex., for Continental Ins. Co.Appeal From the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.Before WISDOM, RUBIN and SAM D. JOHNSON, Circuit Judges.SAM D. JOHNSON, Circuit Judge:The widows in this diversity suit for wrongful death appeal from the district court order dismissing all three defendants for lack of personal jurisdiction. This Court affirms in part and in part reverses and remands the dismissal.The two decedents[fn1] were employed by a Dallas engineering firm that allegedly entered into a contract with defendant Sonatrach, Inc., the Algerian national oil company, to provide technical assistance. While allegedly performing duties in Algeria pursuant to this contract, an airplane manufactured by defendant Beech Aircraft Corporation (Beech), owned by defendant Air Algerie, and allegedly chartered by Sonatrach, crashed on October 16, 1975, because of unknown causes, tragically killing the engineers.The widows then filed this wrongful death suit in federal district court on October 12, 1977. Service of process was made under the Texas Long Arm Statute, Tex. Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 2031b, on the three defendants in November 1977.[fn2] All three defendants promptly contested the existence of personal jurisdiction. After service was made but before dismissal of the suit Sonatrach became licensed to do business in Texas. After some jurisdictional discovery, the district court first dismissed Beech, then Air Algerie, and finally Sonatrach.The central issue in this case is the meaning and application of the Texas Long Arm Statute. The first question posed to this Court is whether or not Article 2031b authorizes the broadest possible reach fourteenth amendment due process permits. Plaintiffs argue that the statute is coextensive with the limits due process places on state long arm jurisdiction and that all three defendants in one way or another have constitutionally sufficient contacts with Texas. Defendants counter that any and all of their respective contacts with Texas are unrelated to plaintiffs' suit and that the statute requires a nexus between the cause of action and the defendants' contacts, regardless of what due process permits.International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945), and its progeny set forth the due process confines on a state's ability to subject a nonresident defendant to suit in its courts. Constitutionally permissible amenability to process depends upon the quality and nature of the activity within the state such that it is fair and reasonable for the nonresident to come into that forum and defend the action. Beyond this limit state service of process statutes may not reach. But due process does not compel the states to assert jurisdiction this far. Perkins v. Benguet Consolidated Mining Co., 342 U.S. 437, 440, 72 S.Ct. 413, 415, 96 L.Ed. 485 (1952).Because jurisdiction is achieved by service under the long arm statute, and because due process is a limit on the reach of the statute, the first - and threshold - question is whether the statutory requirements have been met. Only if the statute authorizes the exercise of in personam jurisdiction does the court reach the question of whether the assertion of that jurisdiction exceeds constitutional bounds.[fn3]It is true that due process allows the state to assert jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant that carries on continuous and systematic activities in the state unrelated to the cause of action. Perkins, 342 U.S. at 445-47, 72 S.Ct. at 418-19.[fn4] The Texas statute, however, expressly limits personal jurisdiction to causes of action arising out of activities or business done within the state. Section 2 restricts amenability to "any action . . . arising out of [business engaged in within the state.]" Section 3 confines amenability to "any action, suit or proceedings arising out of such business done in this State."[fn5] Section 4 defines doing business as including but not limited to the entering into a contract by mail or otherwise with a resident of Texas to be performed in whole or in part by either party in Texas, or the committing of any tort in whole or in part in Texas.[fn6] The statute thus unambiguously reaches only suits arising out of contacts with Texas.Plaintiffs rely on two cases to support their theory that, despite its literal language, Article 2031b encompasses causes of action unrelated to the defendant's contacts with the forum. The first is U-Anchor Advertising, Inc. v. Burt, 553 S.W.2d 760 (Tex. 1977), cert. denied,Try vLex for FREE for 3 days
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