Brown v. Abus Kransysteme GmbH

11 So. 3d 788, 2008 Ala. LEXIS 262, 2008 WL 5195189
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedDecember 12, 2008
Docket1071184
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 11 So. 3d 788 (Brown v. Abus Kransysteme GmbH) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Abus Kransysteme GmbH, 11 So. 3d 788, 2008 Ala. LEXIS 262, 2008 WL 5195189 (Ala. 2008).

Opinions

[790]*790WOODALL, Justice.

Felicia D. Brown, as dependent widow and personal representative of the estate of Jeremiah Brown, deceased, appeals from a judgment dismissing for lack of in personam jurisdiction her product-liability action against ABUS Kransysteme GmbH (“ABUS”), a limited liability company organized under the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany and the manufacturer of the component part of a crane that allegedly malfunctioned, resulting in the death of her husband. We affirm.

I. Factual Background

On August 2, 2006, Jeremiah Brown was operating a crane for his employer Steel Related Technology New, LLC (“SRT”). The crane was manufactured by Wolverine Crane & Service, Inc. (“Wolverine”), a Michigan corporation, and was equipped with a hoist manufactured by ABUS bearing serial number 78838. He was killed when a wire rope on the hoist snapped, allowing a beam to fall on him. On October 4, 2006, Felicia Brown sued ABUS and others asserting claims under the Alabama Extended Manufacturer’s Liability Doctrine and other theories.

On December 20, 2006, ABUS moved to dismiss the claims against it, arguing that it “lack[ed] minimum contacts with the State of Alabama sufficient to permit an exercise of in personam jurisdiction consistent with the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.” In support of its motion, ABUS filed the affidavit of Lothar Bühne, a managing partner of ABUS. The affidavit stated, in pertinent part:

“3. ABUS does not have any contacts with the State of Alabama.
“4. ABUS has no offices, factories, real or personal property, product inventory, bank accounts, or assets of any kind in the United States of Amei'ica or in the State of Alabama.
“5. ABUS has no employees or regular agents anywhere in the United States of America and no employees or agents whatsoever in the State of Alabama.
“6. ABUS’ sole representative on the North American continent is located in the Commonwealth of Canada, and only handles sales in Canada. ABUS has never had any sales representative relations with any person or entity in the State of Alabama.
“7. ABUS has not designed, manufactured for, or sold any ABUS product, including wire rope product, to the employer of plaintiffs decedent.
“8. ABUS did not send the crane or hoist product described in the complaint into the United States of America or into the State of Alabama.
“9. ABUS has had no contacts in or with or any presence in or any involvement with the State of Alabama.
“10. ABUS has never purposefully availed itself of any privilege, benefit or protection afforded by the laws of the State of Alabama.”

On February 1, 2007, Brown moved to continue consideration of ABUS’s motion to dismiss, asserting that resolution of the question of personal jurisdiction should be deferred until she could “conduct jurisdictional discovery.” More specifically, Brown contended:

“[Jjurisdictional discovery might shed information on how the ABUS hoist got to Alabama, whether it was designed for the American market, whether it was designed for the specific Alabama application for which it was being used, the extent of ABUS’ ‘subsidiary and partner’ distribution network in the United States, whether it or its network is servicing the Decedent’s employer’s needs, [791]*791and whether it is otherwise aiming its activities to a multi-state market that includes Alabama.”

On March 7, 2007, the trial court granted Brown’s motion.

On March 21, 2007, ABUS’s counsel sent a letter to Brown’s counsel; that letter states:

“Yesterday I received a copy of [Brown’s] Amended Complaint and just today received a copy of [Brown’s] First Set of Interrogatories and Requests for Production of Documents.... Given that ABUS has a pending motion to dismiss based on personal jurisdiction ABUS will not be participating in any discovery not relating to its personal jurisdiction defense.

(Emphasis added.)

On approximately April 10, 2007, Brown sent ABUS a “notice of [Ala. R. Civ. P.] 30(b)(6) deposition of corporate representative of defendant [ABUS] and request for production of documents under [Ala. R. Civ. P.] 30(b)(5)” (hereinafter “the deposition notice”). The deposition notice contained 50 paragraphs with subparagraphs describing the requested information and documents. Approximately 24 of the paragraphs sought information regarding the sales of ABUS’s products “in the United States,” as well as information regarding ABUS’s business contacts “in the United States” or “in North America.” Examples of these paragraphs are as follows:

“1. Testimony and documents regarding all relationships, agreements and/or contracts, including but not limited to distribution agreements, service contracts, and/or sales agreements, [ABUS has] with any natural person, corporation, partnership, proprietorship, association, organization, group of persons, or any governmental body or subdivision thereof, company or other business entity in the United States.
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“4. Testimony and documents related to the distribution of ABUS ... products, including any crane, hoist, gantry, accessory, component part, spare part, or other item manufactured, produced, designed and/or distributed by ABUS ... or any of its subsidiaries, including but not limited to the ABUS ... crane/ hoist which bears Serial Number 78838 (‘the subject crane’), in the United States.
“5. Testimony and documents, including but not limited to invoices, receipts, sales records, sales ledgers, and/or electronically stored information, relating to the sales of ABUS Kransysteme GmbH products made to any natural person, corporation, partnership, proprietorship, association, organization, group of persons, or any governmental body or subdivision thereof, company or other business, in the United States.
“6. Testimony and documents which evidence, refer or relate to all payments received directly or indirectly, from any person, company or other business entity in the United States for the purchase of your products, including but not limited to the subject crane.
“7. Testimony and documents, including but not limited to all invoices, receipts, records, electronically stored information, or other documentation, regarding shipment, directly or indirectly, of your products to the United States.”

(Emphasis added.) The deposition notice also sought “[testimony and documents, including but not limited to agreements and/or contracts, describing and/or reflecting [ABUS’s] relationship with [EMH, Inc., an Ohio corporation, whose principal place of business is Cleveland, Ohio].”

[792]*792On approximately April 17, 2007, ABUS sent Brown a letter, stating, in pertinent part:

“In reviewing the proposed deposition topics, I noticed that a number of these topics have no relevance to any contacts of ABUS within the State of Alabama, and some of the other topics are in part

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Bluebook (online)
11 So. 3d 788, 2008 Ala. LEXIS 262, 2008 WL 5195189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-abus-kransysteme-gmbh-ala-2008.