Abraham v. Agusta, S.P.A.

968 F. Supp. 1403, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21001, 1997 WL 391676
CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedJune 9, 1997
DocketCV-S-96-1073-LDG (RLM)
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 968 F. Supp. 1403 (Abraham v. Agusta, S.P.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Abraham v. Agusta, S.P.A., 968 F. Supp. 1403, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21001, 1997 WL 391676 (D. Nev. 1997).

Opinion

ORDER

GEORGE, Chief Judge.

This matter comes before the court on Defendant Fox Five One Ltd., Inc.’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction (# 12). Plaintiffs opposed (# 14) and defendant replied (# 16). Also pending before the court is plaintiffs’ request for oral argument on the defendant’s motion to dismiss (# 17).

I. Background

This products liability case arises out of the crash of an aircraft while engaged in simulated aerial combat. The deceased, Robert J. Abraham, was a pilot employed by Desert Aces L.L.C. (“Desert Aces”), a Nevada company engaged in the business of taking non-pilots into simulated aerial combat. On December 3, 1994, Robert J. Abraham and his non-pilot passenger were killed when the aircraft they were piloting crashed outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. The aircraft, a SIAI Marchetti SF260C (Registration No. N58FD), was manufactured by SIAI Marehetti, S.p.A. (“Marchetti”), an Italian corporation with its primary place of business in Italy. According to the chain-of-title submitted by the plaintiffs, Marchetti sold the aircraft to Defendant Fox Five One Ltd., Inc. (“Fox Five”) sometime in 1983. Fox Five is a Texas corporation engaged in the business of selling and maintaining retail aircraft. Fox’s principal place of business is in the State of Texas. A review of the chain-of-title also indicates that Fox Five initially sold the aircraft at issue within the State of Texas and then repurchased the aircraft from the same buyer. Thereafter, on or about April 1, 1992, Fox Five sold the aircraft to Fighter Pilots USA, Inc. (“Fighter Pilots USA”), a company located in Tampa, Florida and presumably also engaged in the business of simulated aerial combat. On or about June 14, 1994, Fighter Pilots USA sold the aircraft to Desert Aces. The crash giving rise to the instant action occurred while the aircraft was owned by Desert Aces.

This action was initiated by the plaintiffs who are the heirs of the deceased pilot. In their complaint, the plaintiffs allege several causes of action against multiple defendants, including the aircraft’s manufacturer and retail distributor, based on theories of strict products liability and negligence. Essentially, plaintiffs allege that the crash occurred when the passenger with whom Robert Abraham was flying took control of the aircraft and induced the aircraft into a flat-spin, causing the aircraft to impact the desert floor. The complaint further alleges that the defendants are liable for Robert Abraham’s death for designing, marketing and selling the aircraft: (1) without there being incorporated into the aircraft a means by which the pilot-in-command could isolate control inputs from the non-pilot passenger and take independent control of the aircraft, and (2) means to avoid or recover the aircraft from a flat-spin.

*1406 In their Third and Sixth Causes of Action, the plaintiffs allege that Defendant Fox Five is hable for the deceased’s death under strict products liability and negligence theories, respectively, for marketing and selling the aircraft when the aircraft and accompanying operating manuals were so defective so as to be unreasonably dangerous for the aircraft’s intended use. Of the defendants, only Fox Five now moves to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. 1

II. Analysis

Because this court will confine the personal jurisdiction determination to the parties’ pre-trial motions and affidavits, plaintiffs are required to make only a prima facie showing of the jurisdictional facts to prevail over Fox Five’s motion to dismiss. Data Disc, Inc. v. Systems Technology As soc’s, Inc., 557 F.2d 1280, 1285 (9th Cir.1977). Where a federal court sits in diversity, the exercise of personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant turns on two independent inquiries: (1) whether an applicable state statute (e.g., long-arm statute) potentially confers personal jurisdiction over the defendant, and (2) whether the exercise of personal jurisdiction over the defendant comports with the defendant’s constitutional due process rights. Data Disc, 557 F.2d at 1286. Both inquiries must be satisfied to properly exercise personal jurisdiction over an out-of-state defendant.

A. Nevada’s Products Liability Long-arm Statute

As to the first inquiry, plaintiffs assert that personal jurisdiction is conferred by N.R.S. § 14.080, Nevada’s products liability long-arm statute, which governs service of process on foreign manufacturers, producers and suppliers of products. The defendant essentially argues that it is not a manufacturer and, therefore, not the type of defendant envisioned by the products liability statute. The statute provides in pertinent part:

Any ... corporation ... created and existing under the laws of another state ... which manufactures, produces, makes, markets or otherwise supplies directly or indirectly any product for distribution, sale or use in this state may be lawfully served with any legal process in any action to recover damages for injury to person or property resulting from such distribution, sale or use in this state....

N.R.S. § 14.080(1). This court is bound by the interpretation given to § 14.080 by the Nevada Supreme Court. See Greenspun v. Del E. Webb Corp., 634 F.2d 1204, 1207 (9th Cir.1980).

The Nevada Supreme Court has given a broad interpretation to § 14.080. In Metal-Matic, Inc. v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court, 82 Nev. 263, 415 P.2d 617 (1966), Nevada’s high court was presented with a products liability ease wherein an out-out-state defendant was sued by the heirs of the deceased. The out-of-state defendant, Metal-Matic, manufactured an allegedly defective boat railing which was installed in turn by a Minnesota boat manufacturer. The boat manufacturer shipped the boat to a Nevada distributor where it was then sold to a Nevada consumer. While the consumer was boating on Lake Mead, the allegedly defective rail gave way resulting in the drowning of the boat owner’s father. Metal-Matic argued that Nevada courts could not exercise personal jurisdiction over it because the defendant never directly or indirectly solicited or conducted business in Nevada.

In Metal-Matic, Nevada Supreme Court ultimately found that § 14.080 conferred personal jurisdiction over the defendant, stating:

Where it is reasonably foreseeable that a product will enter the flow of commerce, the manufacturers of that product can expect to be sued in any state where the product is alleged to have caused the injury. This is without regard to how many hands have touched the product from its production to the time or place of the injury. Whether it be labeled a minimal *1407 contact, or a one act tort, the effect is the same, i.e., jurisdiction in the forum state attaches.

Metal-Matic, 82 Nev.

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Bluebook (online)
968 F. Supp. 1403, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21001, 1997 WL 391676, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/abraham-v-agusta-spa-nvd-1997.