Curran v. Fisherman Marine Products, Inc.

773 So. 2d 285, 2001 A.M.C. 1392, 2000 La.App. 4 Cir. 0099, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 2886, 2000 WL 1716503
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 15, 2000
DocketNo. 2000-CA-0099
StatusPublished

This text of 773 So. 2d 285 (Curran v. Fisherman Marine Products, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Curran v. Fisherman Marine Products, Inc., 773 So. 2d 285, 2001 A.M.C. 1392, 2000 La.App. 4 Cir. 0099, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 2886, 2000 WL 1716503 (La. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinions

J^PLOTKIN, Judge.

The sole question in this appeal is whether the defendants, Fisherman Marine Products, Inc. and the M/V Fisherman XIII (hereinafter referred to collectively as “Fisherman”), have sufficient minimum contacts with the state of Louisiana to justify the assertion of general jurisdiction by Louisiana courts. Plaintiffs June B. and Curtis R. Curran appeal a trial court judgment dismissing their suit for lack of personal jurisdiction. For the reasons described below, we affirm.

The suit underlying this appeal is a personal injury claim arising out of injuries Mr. Curran received on May 25, 1990, while he was engaged in the course and scope of his employment with Fisherman as a part of the crew of the MW Fisherman XIII. Mr. Curran allegedly suffered injuries when he slipped and fell while washing the vessel in heavy seas. According to the Currans, the proximate cause of Mr. Curran’s accident was the unseaworthiness of the vessel. Mr. Curran seeks maintenance and cure under the provisions of the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C.A. § 688, and Mrs. Curran seeks damages for loss of consortium.

| ^Fisherman, which was served with the Currans’ petition under the Louisiana Long-Arm Statute, LSA-R.S. 13:3201 et seq., responded by filing a number of exceptions, including a declinatory exception of lack of personal jurisdiction. Following a trial on the exception, the trial judge maintained the exception of lack of personal jurisdiction and dismissed the Currans’ cause of action. The Currans filed a motion for new trial, which was denied by the trial court. The Currans appeal.

Louisiana’s Long-Arm Statute allows Louisiana courts to exercise personal jurisdiction over a defendant “on any basis consistent with the constitution of this state and of the Constitution of the United States.” LSA-R.S. 13:3201(B). Thus, under current Louisiana law, “the sole inquiry into jurisdiction over a nonresident is a one-step analysis of the constitutional due process requirements.” Ruckstuhl v. Owens Corning Fiberglas Corp., 98-1126, p. 5 (La.4/13/99), 731 So.2d 881, 885, cert. denied, Hollingsworth & Vose Co. v. Ruckstuhl, 528 U.S. 1019, 120 S.Ct. 526,145 L.Ed.2d 407 (1999), quoting Petroleum Helicopters, Inc. v. Avco Corp., 513 So.2d 1188 (La.1987). The constitutional due process test for determining personal jurisdiction, established by the United States Supreme Court in International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945), requires that a defendant “have certain minimum contacts with the forum state such that the maintenance of the suit does not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.” Ruckstuhl, 98-1126 at 6, [287]*287731 So.2d at 885, citing International Shoe, 326 U.S. at 320, 66 S.Ct. at 160. Though the due 13process inquiry is considered a “one-step analysis,” the following “two-part test” has developed: (1) the “minimum contacts” prong, and (2) the “fairness of the assertion of jurisdiction” prong. Ruckstuhl, 98-1126 at 6, 731 So.2d at 885. If a court determines that one (or both) of the above “prongs” is not satisfied in a given case, the suit must be dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction.

The minimum contacts prong has been further refined by Louisiana courts, depending on the type of personal jurisdiction sought to be exercised in the case: (1) specific jurisdiction, or (2) general jurisdiction. See Babcock & Wilcox Co. v. Babcock Mexico, S.A. de C.V., 597 So.2d 110, 112 (La.App. 4 Cir.), unit denied, 600 So.2d 679 (La.1992). Generally, a state asserts specific jurisdiction “when the lawsuit arises out of the defendant’s contacts with the forum.” B. Glenn George, “In Search of General Jurisdiction,” 64 Tul. L.Rev. 1097, 1099 (May 1990). On the other hand, a state asserts general jurisdiction when “the defendant’s contacts with the forum ... are unrelated to the cause of action.” Id.

When a state seeks to assert specific jurisdiction over a defendant, the minimum contacts prong of the due process analysis is satisfied “if the defendant has purposefully directed his activities at residents of the forum.” deReyes v. Marine Management and Consulting, Ltd., 586 So.2d 103, 106 (La.1991), citing Keeton v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 465 U.S. 770, 104 S.Ct. 1473, 79 L.Ed.2d 790 (1984). According to the deReyes decision, this rule “ensures that [the defendant] will not be haled into a jurisdiction solely as a result of a random, fortuitous or attenuated contact, or by the unilateral activity of another party or a third person.” |4586 So.2d at 106. However, a non-resident defendant is considered to have minimum contacts with the forum state for purposes of general jurisdiction only if it engages in “continuous and systematic activities” in the forum. Id. at 108. Thus, this court has held that “much more substantial contacts with the forum state are required to establish general, as opposed to specific, jurisdiction.” Bosarge v. Master Mike, Inc., 95-0986, p. 3 (La.App. 4 Cir. 1/31/96), 669 So.2d 510, 512, writ denied, 96-0397 (La.3/22/96), 669 So.2d 1214. In fact, the contacts must be “so substantial and of such a nature as to justify suit against it on causes of action arising from dealings entirely distinct from those activities.” International Shoe Co., 326 U.S. at 318, 66 S.Ct. at 159, 90 L.Ed. at 95. One writer even has suggested that a state should not assert general jurisdiction over a non-resident corporation unless a corporate office is located in the forum. George, supra, 64 Tul. L.Rev. at 1129. However, Louisiana has not adopted such a limited rule.

Although the petition is silent concerning the location of the M/V Fisherman XIII at the time Mr. Curran’s injury, the Currans claim in brief that the vessel was located in the waters off the coast of Mississippi, “in the vicinity of Louisiana waters.” Captain Marvet Johnson, captain of the M/V Fisherman XIII at the time of the accident, testified at the trial of the exception that the vessel was located some 14 to 15 miles offshore at the time, in Mississippi, close to Alabama. Thus, the Currans urge Louisiana courts to exercise general jurisdiction over Fisherman, |fisince the cause of action arises out of activity unrelated to any of Fisherman’s activity in the state of Louisiana.

According to the testimony of Charles M. Weston Sr., general manager of the corporation, Fisherman is an Alabama corporation, located in Bayou LeBatre, Alabama, with no offices in Louisiana. Mr. Weston indicated in his deposition that the primary business of the company is the sale of ice and fuel. However, the company has also owned some 15 shrimping vessels since 1978, which have been numbered consecutively I through XV. The company [288]*288never owned more than eight vessels at one time; it owned five vessels, numbered XI through XV, at the time of Mr. Cur-ran’s accident. The company employs a crew of three for each vessel it owns at any given time. The trial testimony indicates that the vessels shrimp the Gulf of Mexico, primarily in federal waters, but sometimes in the three-mile areas along the coast belonging to the various states.

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Related

International Shoe Co. v. Washington
326 U.S. 310 (Supreme Court, 1945)
Keeton v. Hustler Magazine, Inc.
465 U.S. 770 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Bosarge v. Master Mike, Inc.
669 So. 2d 510 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1996)
Petroleum Helicopters, Inc. v. Avco Corp.
513 So. 2d 1188 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1987)
Babcock & Wilcox v. Babcock Mexico
597 So. 2d 110 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1992)
Ruckstuhl v. Owens Corning Fiberglas Corp.
731 So. 2d 881 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1999)
De Reyes v. Marine Mgt. and Consulting
586 So. 2d 103 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1991)
Natsios v. National Foreign Trade Council
528 U.S. 1018 (Supreme Court, 1999)
Hollingsworth & Vose Co. v. Ruckstuhl
528 U.S. 1019 (Supreme Court, 1999)

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773 So. 2d 285, 2001 A.M.C. 1392, 2000 La.App. 4 Cir. 0099, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 2886, 2000 WL 1716503, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/curran-v-fisherman-marine-products-inc-lactapp-2000.