Arizona School Risk Retention Trust, Inc. v. NMTC, Inc.

169 F. Supp. 3d 931, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33261, 2016 WL 1029345
CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedMarch 15, 2016
DocketNo. CV-14-08009-PCT-PGR
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 169 F. Supp. 3d 931 (Arizona School Risk Retention Trust, Inc. v. NMTC, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arizona School Risk Retention Trust, Inc. v. NMTC, Inc., 169 F. Supp. 3d 931, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33261, 2016 WL 1029345 (D. Ariz. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER

Paul G. Rosenblatt, United States District Judge

Among the motions pending before the Court is Techway Industrial Company Limited’s Motion to Dismiss the Plaintiffs Complaint Under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(2) and 12(b)(5) (Doc. 123). Having considered the parties’ memoranda in light of the relevant record, the Court finds that defendant Techway Industrial Company [933]*933Limited (“Techway”) should be dismissed from this action pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(2) because the Court lacks personal jurisdiction over it.1

Background

This action arose from a fire that destroyed a transportation building belonging to the Round Valley Unified School District No. 5 in Eager, Arizona on May 12, 2013. The school district is a participating member of plaintiff Arizona School Risk Retention Trust, Inc. (“plaintiff) and its membership agreement with the plaintiff provides the plaintiff with a right of subrogation. The plaintiffs contention is that the fire originated in an allegedly defective lithium-ion battery in a rechargeable drill that the plaintiff asserts was manufactured and/or supplied by Techway; the drill at issue was one from co-defendant Mateo Tools (“Mateo”) that Mateo alleges it purchased from co-defendant Professional Tool Products L.L.C. (“PTP”). According to the plaintiff, the drill was manufactured by Techway with a battery purchased from proposed new defendant Samsung SDI Co., Ltd. The First Amended Complaint (Doc. 48) alleges claims of negligence (Count I), strict liability/products liability (Count II), and breach of implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose (Count III) against Techway, as well as against the other named defendants without distinguishing among them.

Personal Jurisdiction-Related Evidence

It is undisputed that Techway is incorporated in Taiwan and has its principal place of business in Taiwan. In support of its contention that the Court lacks personal jurisdiction over it, Techway has submitted the affidavit of Chung, Fu-Hsiang, Techway’s president.2 The affidavit sets forth the following: (1) that Techway is in the business of designing and manufacturing battery packs and chargers, among other things; (2) that Techway does not sell or ship any products to Arizona; (3) that Techway has no distributors in Arizona; (4) that Techway has no knowledge that its products will be shipped to or sold in Arizona; (5) that Techway is not licensed, authorized, or registered to do any business in the United States, including Arizona; (6) that Techway has never executed a contract in Arizona; (7) that Tech-way has never provided any services in Arizona nor has it ever provided any services to any person in Arizona; (8) that Techway has never paid taxes in Arizona; (9) that Techway has never owned, rented or leased any real or personal property in Arizona; (10) that Techway has never maintained any place of business in Arizona, and it has never maintained a telephone number, telex or telefax number, or address in Arizona; (11) that Techway has no assets in Arizona; (12) that Techway has never had an agent for service of process in Arizona; (13) that Techway has never had any employees, including sales persons, representatives, agents or servants, conduct business in Arizona; (14) that Techway has no employees who attend trade shows or conduct meetings in Arizona; and (15) that Techway has never been a party to another lawsuit in Arizona.

In support of its opposition to the Rule 12(b)(2) motion, the plaintiff has submitted [934]*934an affidavit from Marty Huguet, the president of co-defendant PTP, which is located in South Carolina. The Huguet affidavit states: (1) that PTP purchased the battery-powered drill, battery charger and battery pack at issue from Techway, and PTP then sold the drill to co-defendant Mateo for Mateo to sell through its nationwide distributor base, which includes distributors in Arizona; (2) that in 2008-2009, PTP entered into a Supplier Agreement with Techway for Techway to supply drills to PTP at PTP’s South Carolina facility that would be developed in a Matco-style housing and brand which PTP would then sell to Mateo for Mateo to distribute nationally, that there was an understanding that this item would be exclusive to PTP/Matco in the United States market in that housing and style, that under this agreement, Techway supplied its designed and manufactured products that Techway knew at the time of the agreement would be distributed to all Mateo distributors throughout the United States, including Arizona, and that with this assurance, Techway agreed to the exclusivity provision3 ; (3) that Mateo utilizes a different marketing and distribution model than other competitors in that Mateo tools may only be purchased from an authorized vendor located within a specific coverage area, and there are such authorized vendors in Arizona; (4) that during the product development process, Techway provided copies of quality and certification and testing by its own and standardized laboratory facilities, including but not limited to UL listing; (5) that as a further condition of the Supplier Agreement, PTP required Techway to acquire insurance covering any claims in the United States that might arise out of its merchandise, including the drills, that Tech-way provided PTP with a certificate of insurance for coverage in the United States, which included insurance coverage for Arizona, and that based on this assurance, PTP purchased merchandise, including the drill, and that PTP has bought many thousands of Techway products for distribution throughout the United States, including Arizona; and (6) that PTP and Mateo agree on the warranty statement and PTP provides to Techway the artwork for the warranty statement to be printed by Techway on every product instruction manual, and PTP provides related warranty information to Techway on an annual basis, and this includes information concerning warranty information related to products in Arizona.4

The plaintiff has also submitted as evidence supporting its jurisdiction-related argument (1) copies of six exemplar United States patents issued to Techway, none of which has anything to do with the allegedly defective rechargeable drill at issue here5, and (2) a copy of a certificate for [935]*935products liability insurance, dated October 7, 2014, issued to Techway by Fubon Insurance, another Taiwanese company, for worldwide coverage, including the United States and Canada, for the cordless power tools and battery pack/battery chargers Techway distributes, but with a policy period of July 01, 2014 to July 01, 2015, which does not include the date the fire at issue here occurred, which was on May 12, 2013.

Discussion

Techway has moved to dismiss this action as to it pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(2) for lack of personal jurisdiction; it argues that the Court has neither general nor specific personal jurisdiction over it. Since the plaintiff only argues in its response that specific jurisdiction exists here, the Court will resolve Techway’s Rule 12(b)(2) motion only on that ground.

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Bluebook (online)
169 F. Supp. 3d 931, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33261, 2016 WL 1029345, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arizona-school-risk-retention-trust-inc-v-nmtc-inc-azd-2016.