Andino v. Alcan Aluminio Do Brasil, S.A.

652 F. Supp. 415, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4988
District Court, D. Puerto Rico·Decided January 21, 1987·No. Civ. 85-0256 (JAF)·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

FUSTE, District Judge.

This case is before us on motions to dismiss filed by the defendants, who allege a lack of in personam jurisdiction. We also address plaintiffs’ motion for reconsideration of our denial to amend the complaint to add Mr. Manuel Diaz as a defendant in the case. The pertinent facts of the case are as follows:

On February 6,1984, plaintiffs Ramonita Andino Rosa and her daughter suffered severe burns when the lid of a Rochedo pressure cooker, manufactured by defendant Alcan Aluminio do Brasil, S.A. (Al-can/Brazil), blew off, causing steam and hot liquid to spray over them. Plaintiffs brought this product-liability suit against the manufacturer and two companies they allege to be the distributors of the pressure cooker, Alcan Aluminum Ltd. (Alcan/Canada), a Canadian corporation, and Group Brazil, Inc.

The defendants filed motions to dismiss alleging that there is no in personam jurisdiction in that they are all foreign corporations without minimum contacts. The motions are supported by affidavits. The affidavit of Alcan/Canada states that the company is merely a holding company for all the Alcan group companies and has never served as a distributor or national agent representative for Alcan/Brazil. Group Brazil’s affidavit stated that it was not incorporated until March 1983, and has never sold or distributed Rochedo pressure cookers. The affidavit filed on behalf of Alcan/Brazil states, basically, that that company has no ties with Puerto Rico which traditionally constitute minimum contacts; that is, it has neither offices nor agents here, owns no real estate or personal property; neither does it keep bank accounts, telephones nor warehouses, nor is it licensed or does it solicit business in Puerto Rico.

I.

Plaintiffs’ own exhibits reveal the following as to Group Brazil: Group Brazil was incorporated in March 1983 to serve as a warehouse to facilitate the distribution of the products of several Brazilian manufacturers. The Rochedo pressure cookers which were removed from the market, and for which Group Brazil provided replacements, were manufactured between 1977 and 1981 and were sold between 1977 and 1982. Manuel Diaz, president of Group Brazil, states in his deposition that he, personally, is the sales representative for the Rochedo cookers in Puerto Rico and that he owns an apartment in San Juan where he stays when he comes here on business, which occurs several times a year. He also states that he had been selling the Rochedo cooker since as early as 1974.

As to Alcan/Brazil’s ties to Puerto Rico, a December 29, 1983 bulletin from the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission states that of 300,000 faulty pressure cookers distributed in the United States, 240,-000 of them were marketed in Puerto Rico. Additionally, it appears from various invoices that Alcan/Brazil shipped the pressure cookers from Santos, Brazil directly to San Juan, Puerto Rico. A February 24, 1984 telegram from the company’s Assistant Manager Manuel Santiago to Mr. Diaz states the following:

*418 I thought it best to inform you that the final newspaper advertisements concerning the Rochedo pressure cookers, that Alcan Aluminio do Brasil, S.A. plans to place will not be published before your meeting with the company’s clients in Puerto Rico____
In an effort to better inform the company’s valued customers and remove doubts, Alcan will place a final ad in Puerto Rico within the next month. (Emphasis added).

It is well settled doctrine that in person-am jurisdiction over a nonresident is proper only when that party has certain minimum contacts with the forum so that maintenance of the suit does not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. International Shoe v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 316, 66 S.Ct. 154, 158, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945); Milliken v. Meyer, 311 U.S. 457, 463, 61 S.Ct. 339, 342-43, 85 L.Ed. 278 (1940); Glater v. Eli Lilly, 744 F.2d 213, 215 (1st Cir.1984).

The traditional concept of minimum contacts has recently been extended by a Supreme Court keenly aware of today’s technologies:

Jurisdiction ... may not be avoided merely because the defendant did not physically enter the forum State. Although territorial presence frequently will enhance a potential defendant’s affiliation with a State and reinforce the reasonable foreseeability of suit there, it is an inescapable fact of modern commercial life that a substantial amount of business is transacted solely by mail and wire communications across state lines, thus obviating the need for physical presence within a State in which business is conducted. So long as a commercial actor’s efforts are “purposefully directed” toward residents of another State, we have consistently rejected the notion that an absence of physical contacts can defeat personal jurisdiction there.

Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 105 S.Ct. 2174, 2184, 85 L.Ed.2d 528 (1985) (citations omitted).

Courts, in appropriate cases, may evaluate the burden on the defendant, the forum state’s interest in adjudicating the dispute, the plaintiff’s interest in obtaining convenient and effective relief, the interstate judicial system’s interest in obtaining the most efficient resolution of controversies, and the shared interest of the several states in furthering fundamental substantive social policies. Burger King, 105 S.Ct. at 2184, citing World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286, 292, 100 S.Ct. 559, 564, 62 L.Ed.2d 490 (1980). These considerations sometimes serve to establish the reasonableness of jurisdiction upon a lesser showing of minimum contacts than would otherwise be required. Id.; see also, e.g., Keeton v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 465 U.S. 770, 104 S.Ct. 1473, 79 L.Ed.2d 790 (1984); Calder v. Jones, 465 U.S. 783, 104 S.Ct. 1482, 79 L.Ed.2d 804 (1982).

Where a defendant who has purposefully directed his activities at forum residents seeks to defeat jurisdiction, he must present a compelling case that the presence of some other considerations would render jurisdiction unreasonable. Most such considerations usually may be accommodated through means short of finding jurisdiction unconstitutional.

II.

Applying these principles, we analyze the jurisdictional situation of each of the defendants:

Group Brazil, from the vast majority of documents, appears to be primarily a warehousing operation. It did, however, carry out the replacement of the defective pressure cookers at the direction of Al-can/Brazil.

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Andino v. Alcan Aluminio Do Brasil, S.A., 652 F. Supp. 415, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4988 (prd 1987).

652 F. Supp. 415 (Andino v. Alcan Aluminio Do Brasil, S.A.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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