Abduljabbar Malik v. Cabot Oil & Gas Corp

710 F. App'x 561
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedSeptember 26, 2017
Docket16-2829
StatusUnpublished
Cited by42 cases

This text of 710 F. App'x 561 (Abduljabbar Malik v. Cabot Oil & Gas Corp) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Abduljabbar Malik v. Cabot Oil & Gas Corp, 710 F. App'x 561 (3d Cir. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION *

RESTREPO, Circuit Judge

This action arises out of a slip and fall accident that occurred on a drilling platform in Montrose, Pennsylvania. Abduljab-bar Abdul Malik appeals from the District Court’s Order granting appellees’ respective motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. For the reasons which follow, we affirm.

I. 1

Malik alleges that on or about February 14, 2014, while in the course and scope of his employment with appellee Patterson UTI Drilling Company (“Patterson”), he was seriously injured when he slipped and fell due to accumulated snow on a drilling platform located on a site owned by appel-lee Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (“Cabot”). He further alleges that his resulting injuries were caused by Cabot’s negligence and Patterson’s intentional acts or gross negligence.

On October 1, 2015, Cabot and Patterson each filed motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction under Rule 12(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. By Opinion and Order entered May 19, 2016, the District Court granted the motions to dismiss. 2

II. 3

“A federal district court may assert personal jurisdiction over a nonresident of the state in which the court sits to the extent authorized by the law of that state.” D’Jamoos ex rel. Estate of Weingeroff v. Pilatus Aircraft Ltd., 566 F.3d 94, 102 (3d Cir. 2009) (quoting Provident Nat’l Bank v. Cal. Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass’n, 819 F.2d 434, 436 (3d Cir. 1987)). Since New Jersey’s long-arm statute allows “the exercise of personal jurisdiction to the fullest limits of due process,” we “look to federal law for the interpretation of the limits on in personam jurisdiction.” IMO Indus., Inc. v. Kiekert AG, 155 F.3d 254, 259 (3d Cir. 1998); see Daimler AG v. Bauman, — U.S. —, 134 S.Ct. 746, 753, 187 L.Ed.2d 624 (2014).

Personal jurisdiction- over a defendant may be either general or specific. Chavez, 836 F.3d at 223 (citing Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia S.A. v. Hall, 466 U.S. 408, 414 nn.8-9, 104 S.Ct. 1868, 80 L.Ed.2d 404 (1984)). General jurisdiction exists “when the plaintiffs claim arises out of [the] defendant’s ‘continuous and systematic’ contacts with the forum state.” Id. (citing Vetrotex Certainteed Corp. v. Consol. Fiber Glass Prods. Co., 75 F.3d 147, 151 n.3 (3d Cir. 1996)). Specific jurisdiction is present “when the cause of action arises from the defendant’s forum-related activities.” Id. (quoting Vetrotex, 75 F.3d at 151). Here, Malik contends that the District Court for the District of New Jersey has general and specific personal jurisdiction over Cabot and that the District Court has specific personal jurisdiction over Patterson.

With regard to general jurisdiction, the Supreme Court has noted that such jurisdiction typically arises only when a corporation’s “affiliations with the State are so continuous and systematic as to render [it] essentially at home in the forum State.” Daimler, 134 S.Ct. at 761 (quoting Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S.A. v. Brown, 564 U.S. 915, 919, 131 S.Ct. 2846, 180 L.Ed.2d 796 (2011)) (internal quotation marks omitted). For a corporation, “the place of incorporation and principal place of business” are where it is “at home” and are, therefore, the paradigm bases for general jurisdiction. 4 Id. at 760. Consequently, as one of our sister circuits has commented, it is “incredibly difficult to establish general jurisdiction [over a corporation] in a forum other than the place of incorporation or principal place of business.” Chavez, 836 F.3d at 223 (quoting Monkton Ins. Servs., Ltd. v. Ritter, 768 F.3d 429, 432 (5th Cir. 2014)) (emph. added in Chavez).

In this case, as Malik’s Complaint acknowledges, Cabot is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Texas. Furthermore, while Malik argues in his brief that Cabot is a publicly-traded national corporation and an interstate energy company, the Supreme Court has pointed out, “[a] corporation that operates in many places can scarcely be deemed at home in all of them.” Daimler, 134 S.Ct. at 762 n.20. Malik has not alleged facts that would suggest this is the “exceptional case” where, although Cabot is neither incorporated in nor has its principal place of business in New Jersey, that Cabot has operations in New Jersey “so substantial and of such a nature as to render [it] at home in that State” for purposes of general jurisdiction. See Daimler, 134 S.Ct. at 761 n.19. We agree with the District Court that “[Malik’s] allegations, taken as true, regarding [Cabot’s] ties to New Jerseyf,] do not demonstrate the type of substantial or continuous and systematic contact that would render [Cabot] ‘at home’ in the State,” see Malik v. Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., 2016 WL 2930511, *3 (D. N.J. May 19, 2017). 5

With regard to specific personal jurisdiction, the inquiry requires a finding that the defendant “purposefully directed [its] activities at residents of the forum, and the litigation results from alleged injuries that arise out of or relate to those activities.” Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 472, 105 S.Ct. 2174, 85 L.Ed.2d 528 (1985) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). If those two requirements are met, then we are required to determine whether the exercise of jurisdiction otherwise “comport[s] with ‘fair play and substantial justice.’ ” Id. at 476, 105 S.Ct. 2174 (quoting Int’l Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 320, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945)). Here, Malik is suing in New Jersey his employer and the site owner for alleged negligence and gross negligence resulting in Malik’s slip and fall on a drilling platform in Montrose, Pennsylvania. Malik’s cause of action does not “arise out of or relate to” appellees’ New Jersey-related activities. See Burger King, 471 U.S. at 472, 105 S.Ct. 2174; see also Chavez, 836 F.3d at 223 (quoting Vetrotex, 75 F.3d at 151) (Specific jurisdiction is present “when the cause of action arises from the defendant’s forum-related activities.”). The District Court properly granted the motions to dismiss for lack of specific personal jurisdiction.

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