Clark v. City of St. Augustine, Fla.

977 F. Supp. 541, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16598, 1997 WL 662073
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedOctober 17, 1997
DocketCivil Action 96-40209-NMG
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 977 F. Supp. 541 (Clark v. City of St. Augustine, Fla.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clark v. City of St. Augustine, Fla., 977 F. Supp. 541, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16598, 1997 WL 662073 (D. Mass. 1997).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

GORTON, District Judge.

On October 23,1996, plaintiffs, Robert and Julie Clark, brought this diversity action against the City of St. Augustine, Florida (“St.Augustine”) for certain injuries suffered by Robert when he tripped and fell on a municipal sidewalk while sightseeing in that city. The plaintiffs allege, among other things, that the sidewalk was negligently maintained. Pending before this Court is St. Augustine’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.

I. Analysis

When a defendant contests a court’s jurisdiction, the plaintiff bears the burden of proving that jurisdiction lies in the forum state. Sawtelle v. Farrell, 70 F.3d 1381, 1387 (1st Cir.1995). Because the jurisdictional challenge serves as a motion to dismiss, however, this Court must construe the facts in the light most hospitable to the plaintiffs. Ticketmaster-New York, Inc. v. Alioto, 26 F.3d 201, 203 (1st Cir.1994).

*543 To determine whether a nonresident defendant is subject to its jurisdiction, a federal court exercising diversity jurisdiction “is the functional equivalent of a state court sitting in the forum state.” Ticketmaster-New York, 26 F.3d at 204. The court must, therefore, consider whether there are sufficient contacts between the defendant and the forum to satisfy both the state’s long-arm statute and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process clause. See id. We explore these requirements seriatim.

A. The Massachusetts Long-Arm Statute

It is well established in diversity cases that “the district court’s personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant is governed by the forum’s long-arm statute.” Goldman, Antonetti, Ferraiuoli, Axtmayer & Hertell v. Medfit Int’l, Inc., 982 F.2d 686, 690 (1st Cir.1993) (quoting Pizarro v. Hoteles Concorde Int’l, C.A., 907 F.2d 1256, 1258 (1st Cir.1990)). To satisfy the pertinent requirements of the Massachusetts long-arm statute, M.G.L. c. 223A, the defendant must have transacted business in Massachusetts and the plaintiffs claim must have arisen from that transaction. Id., § 3(a); Tatro v. Manor Care, Inc., 416 Mass. 763, 767, 625 N.E.2d 549 (1994).

In Tatro, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) concluded that a California hotel’s solicitation of business from Massachusetts residents satisfied the “transacting any business” requirement of § 3(a), and that the “arising from” requirement was satisfied where, but for the hotel’s solicitations, the plaintiff would not have been injured in California. Id. at 771-72, 625 N.E.2d 549. The SJC applied that two part test despite noting that

the Massachusetts long-arm statute functions as an assertion of jurisdiction over the person to the limits allowed by the Constitution of the United States.

Id. at 771, 625 N.E.2d 549 (internal quotations omitted).

St. Augustine advertised extensively in the Boston Globe and distributed pamphlets and brochures to Massachusetts travel agencies. Such purposeful and successful solicitation of business from Massachusetts residents suffices to satisfy the “transacting any business” requirement.

Although an isolated (and minor) transaction with a Massachusetts resident may be insufficient, generally the purposeful and successful solicitation of business from residents of the Commonwealth, by a defendant or its agent, will suffice to satisfy this requirement.

Tatro, 416 Mass, at 767, 625 N.E.2d 549.

The “arising from” requirement involves a “but for” analysis. The Clarks contend that but for St. Augustine’s solicitation of business in Massachusetts, Mr. Clark would not have been injured on a sidewalk in that City. After seeing advertisements for St. Augustine in the Boston Globe, the Clarks went to Young’s Travel Agency in Auburn, Massachusetts where they obtained brochures describing the City. Robert Clark was attracted to a pamphlet concerning the Tragedy in U.S. History Museum, located in St. Augustine and they traveled there, at least in part, to see that museum. After having done so, Mr. Clark was injured. Despite the tenuous causal link, the “arising from” requirement is satisfied.

B. The Due Process Clause

This Court uses a tripartite analysis to determine if sufficient contacts exist to exercise specific personal jurisdiction. First, the claim underlying the litigation must directly arise out of, or relate to, the defendant’s forum-state activities. Second, the defendant’s in-state contacts must represent a purposeful availment of the privilege of conducting activities in the forum state, thereby invoking the benefits and protections of that state’s laws and making the defendant’s involuntary presence before the state’s courts foreseeable. Third, the exercise of jurisdiction must, in light of the Gestalt factors, be reasonable. Sawtelle, 70 F.3d at 1388-89; United Elec. Workers v. 163 Pleasant Street Corp., 960 F.2d 1080, 1089 (1st Cir.1992).

1. Relatedness

The first consideration under the tripartite framework is whether the Clarks’ *544 claims arise out of, or are related to, St. Augustine’s in-forum activities. See Sawtelle, 70 F.3d at 1389. The relatedness inquiry involves a proximate cause standard. Nowak v. Tak How Investments, Ltd., 94 F.3d 708, 715 (1st Cir.1996). Although St. Augustine’s solicitation of tourism within Massachusetts satisfies the “but for” causation standard required by the long-arm statute, it does not satisfy the due process proximate cause standard because, while in Massachusetts, the Clarks had no contact or contract with the City. See, e.g., Nowak, 94 F.3d at 715 (relatedness satisfied by solicitation and extensive back-and-forth between plaintiff and defendant); Tatro, 416 Mass, at 771-72, 625 N.E.2d 549 (relatedness satisfied by persistent solicitation of the plaintiff and a specific contract between plaintiff and defendant).

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977 F. Supp. 541, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16598, 1997 WL 662073, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clark-v-city-of-st-augustine-fla-mad-1997.