Charter Medical, Ltd. v. Zigmed, Inc.

617 S.E.2d 352, 173 N.C. App. 213, 2005 N.C. App. LEXIS 1917
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedSeptember 6, 2005
DocketNo. COA04-1337.
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 617 S.E.2d 352 (Charter Medical, Ltd. v. Zigmed, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Charter Medical, Ltd. v. Zigmed, Inc., 617 S.E.2d 352, 173 N.C. App. 213, 2005 N.C. App. LEXIS 1917 (N.C. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

ELMORE, Judge.

This appeal arises from the trial court's order dismissing plaintiff's complaint for failure to appropriately allege that North Carolina had personal jurisdiction over defendant. Plaintiff, a Delaware corporation with offices in New Jersey and North Carolina, entered into a purchase order agreement for a blood bag manufacturing machine with defendant, a New Jersey corporation with offices solely in that state. When the machine was delivered to its North Carolina location, plaintiff alleges it was not operational and is seeking damages that include, among other things, costs associated with getting the machine in working order.

*354Defendant filed a motion to dismiss plaintiff's complaint pursuant to N.C. Gen.Stat. § 1A-1, Rule 12(b)(2), lack of personal jurisdiction. The trial court heard defendant's motion, and at the request of plaintiff, issued its decision in a written order containing findings of fact and conclusions of law. The trial court determined that defendant did not have sufficient minimum contacts with North Carolina such that subjecting defendant to suit in this state would offend defendant's due process rights. Plaintiff appealed.

There is no dispute that plaintiff is a Delaware corporation with a new office in North Carolina and defendant is a New Jersey corporation. Although not disputed, it is not entirely clear which party initiated the contact; but, pursuant to previous negotiations, defendant sent a proposal to plaintiff's Winston-Salem, North Carolina office quoting pricing, design, manufacturing, and shipment of a blood bag manufacturing machine. The price included in the proposal was in part based on installing the machine in plaintiff's New Jersey facility. Plaintiff, in response, prepared a purchase order that modified the agreement but incorporated the essential elements of defendant's proposal including the delivery and installation point in New Jersey. Plaintiff's purchase order contains a clause that stated: "[t]his Purchase Order, when accepted, shall be a contract made in the state shown in Charter's address on the face of this Purchase Order and governed by the laws of that State." Defendant accepted the purchase order and began manufacturing the machine. The trial court found that, pursuant to the purchase order, plaintiff "paid partially for the ... machine by sending checks drawn on a Fleet Bank Hartford Connecticut account showing both a Winston-Salem, North Carolina address for plaintiff and a Hartford Connecticut address for plaintiff." At some point, plaintiff asked defendant to ship the machine to its North Carolina facility instead of its New Jersey facility. Defendant, without additional compensation in the contract and without plaintiff's written modification of the purchase order, agreed to the new shipping and installation address in North Carolina. Then, after delivery of the machine, defendant sent four of its technicians to North Carolina for eight days to install the machine.

The trial court concluded that:

Defendant sending four (4) technicians to North Carolina for eight (8) days to install the ... machine does not constitute sufficient minimum contacts to subject defendant to suit in North Carolina when the substantial portion of the work was performed in New Jersey and the parties agreed the machine was to be delivered in New Jersey with defendant gratuitously agreeing to change the delivery location from New Jersey to North Carolina at plaintiff's expense.

Based on the evidence in the record supporting the trial court's findings of fact, we agree.

When determining issues of personal jurisdiction, the trial court is to engage in a two-step inquiry: first, determine whether "a basis for jurisdiction exist[s] under the North Carolina `long-arm' statute, N.C. Gen.Stat. Sec. 1-75.4 (1983); and [second,] if so, will the exercise of this jurisdiction over the defendant comport with constitutional standards of due process[.]" Cameron-Brown Co. v. Daves, 83 N.C.App. 281, 283, 350 S.E.2d 111, 113 (1986). On appeal from a trial court's order determining personal jurisdiction, our review is limited to "whether the findings are supported by competent evidence in the record; if so, this Court must affirm the order [of the trial court]." Better Business Forms, Inc. v. Davis, 120 N.C.App. 498, 500, 462 S.E.2d 832, 833 (1995). Notably, despite requesting findings of fact, plaintiff has not excepted to any of the trial court's findings. And while we could end our inquiry here, see, e.g. Saxon v. Smith, 125 N.C.App. 163, 169, 479 S.E.2d 788, 792 (1997) (absent exception to findings in order regarding personal jurisdiction, the findings are deemed correct), we will nonetheless review the trial court's decision in order to determine whether there was an error of law.

Here, the trial court determined that jurisdiction under the long-arm statute was satisfied due to the fact that defendant shipped its product to North Carolina via common carrier. See N.C. Gen.Stat. § 1-75.4(5)(e) (2003) ("A court of this State ... has jurisdiction over a person served ... [i]n any *355action which: [r]elates to goods, documents of title, or other things of value actually received by the plaintiff in this State from the defendant through a carrier without regard to where delivery to the carrier occurred."). A large portion of plaintiff's brief is dedicated to arguing the applicability of our long-arm statute; however, defendant concedes in his brief that because the statute is to be read broadly, and there is apparent applicability, that "the inquiry turns to whether the defendant has the minimum contact with North Carolina necessary to meet the requirements of due process." Because defendant concedes the long-arm statute is applicable, we will not address it, but instead consider only the second step of personal jurisdiction analysis-due process.

"[D]ue process prohibits our state courts from exercising [personal] jurisdiction unless the defendant has had certain `minimum contacts' with the forum state such that `traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice' are not offended by maintenance of the suit." Cameron-Brown, 83 N.C.App. at 284, 350 S.E.2d at 114 (citing International Shoe Co. v. Washington,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
617 S.E.2d 352, 173 N.C. App. 213, 2005 N.C. App. LEXIS 1917, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/charter-medical-ltd-v-zigmed-inc-ncctapp-2005.