Duehring v. Vasquez

490 So. 2d 667
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 11, 1986
Docket17889-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 490 So. 2d 667 (Duehring v. Vasquez) 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
Duehring v. Vasquez, 490 So. 2d 667 (La. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

490 So.2d 667 (1986)

Flora Linda Vasquez DUEHRING, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Joe Raymond VASQUEZ, Sr., Defendant-Appellant.

No. 17889-CA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

June 11, 1986.

*668 Graves, Daye, Bowie & Beresko by Alfred R. Beresko, Shreveport, for defendant-appellant.

Love, Rigby, Dehan, Love & McDaniel by Samuel P. Love, Jr., Shreveport, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before HALL, JASPER E. JONES and LINDSAY, JJ.

HALL, Chief Judge.

The issue before us in this action for an increase in child support is whether, consistent with the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, a district court in Louisiana may exercise in personam jurisdiction over a nonresident parent of a minor child domiciled in this state when the nonresident parent was personally served with process within this state while visiting with the child, as he had done on three previous occasions.

Plaintiff, Flora Linda Vasquez Duehring, instituted the action in Caddo Parish against the defendant, Joe Raymond Vasquez, Sr., seeking an increase in child support. Personal service of process was accomplished when the defendant, a resident of California, entered this state to visit his child. Defendant filed exceptions of improper venue and lack of in personam jurisdiction. The trial court granted defendant's exception of improper venue and transferred the case to Bossier Parish; however, the court overruled defendant's jurisdictional exception. Alleging that irreparable injury will occur by requiring the defendant to litigate the merits of the case at great expense of time and money, the defendant filed an appeal from the judgment overruling the exception of lack of in personam jurisdiction.

The ruling of the district court overruling defendant's declinatory exception is not an appealable judgment. It is well settled that the inconvenience and expense incurred in the defense of a lawsuit does not constitute irreparable injury within the meaning of LSA-C.C.P. Art. 2083, Kyle v. Kyle, 358 So.2d 708 (La.App. 3d Cir.1978); Mauterer v. Tillery, 328 So.2d 755 (La. App. 1st Cir.1976). However, this court will treat the appeal as an application for supervisory writs. Finding that the Louisiana court has in personam jurisdiction over the defendant under the circumstances of this case, we deny the writ.

FACTS

The facts of this case were stipulated by the parties. Plaintiff and defendant were married in Texas in 1976 and their child, Joe Raymond Vasquez, Jr., was born on October 25, 1977. The parties were divorced in 1981 in Texas at which the time the Texas court ordered the defendant to pay the sum of $75.00 per month child support. After their Texas divorce, the defendant moved to Vista, California while the plaintiff moved to Shreveport, Louisiana. After filing the present action, the plaintiff moved to Bossier City.

During the past two years, the defendant has entered Louisiana four times for the sole purpose of exercising his visitation rights with his son. On August 8, 1984, plaintiff filed her petition for an increase in child support from $75.00 per month to $350 per month. When the father last appeared in this state for visitation, the father was served with process in this action.

PERSONAL SERVICE OF PROCESS

The first issue for determination is whether service of process on a nonresident defendant while he is physically present in the state of itself provides a sufficient basis for the exercise of in personam jurisdiction under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

In the present case, the defendant does not dispute the adequacy of the notice he received, but contends that his connection with the State of Louisiana is too attenuated under the standards implicit in the Due Process Clause to justify imposing upon *669 him the burden and inconvenience of defense in Louisiana.

Plaintiff contends that Louisiana law confers personal jurisdiction over the defendant because the defendant was personally served while present in Louisiana pursuant to LSA-C.C.P. Art. 6. Plaintiff contends that the service of process within the state is alone sufficient to satisfy due process standards.

It has long been well established law in the State of Louisiana that a resident of this state has the right to sue a nonresident on any cause of action, and, if personal service of citation can be obtained on the nonresident anywhere in the state, the resident can secure a personal judgment against him. Roper v. Brooks, 201 La. 135, 9 So.2d 485 (1942); Gamburg v. Ray, 167 La. 863, 120 So. 480 (1929). This principle of law was addressed in the classic case of Pennoyer v. Neff, 5 Otto 714, 95 U.S. 714, 24 L.Ed. 565 (1878), which set out two jurisdictional principles. First, every state possesses exclusive jurisdiction and sovereignty over persons and property within its territory; and second, no state can exercise direct jurisdiction over persons or property outside its boundaries. The force of the latter principle was drastically diminished by the minimum contacts standard established by International Shoe v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945) and in other "Long-Arm Statute" cases which have subsequently followed. The question left specifically unanswered by the Supreme Court is the extent to which the court's interpretation of the Due Process Clause has altered the first principle of Pennoyer that a state possesses exclusive jurisdiction and sovereignty over those persons found within its borders.

The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment operates as a limitation on the jurisdiction of state courts to enter judgments affecting rights or interests of nonresident defendants. Shaffer v. Heitner, 433 U.S. 186, 97 S.Ct. 2569, 53 L.Ed.2d 683 (1977). A valid judgment imposing a personal obligation or duty in favor of the plaintiff in a child support action may be entered only by a court having jurisdiction over the person of the defendant. Pennoyer v. Neff, supra; Imperial v. Hardy, 302 So.2d 5 (La.1974).

The United States Supreme Court has set forth two requirements of the due process clause for the existence of in personam jurisdiction. First, the existence of personal jurisdiction depends upon the presence of reasonable notice to the defendant that an action has been brought. Mullane v. Central Hanover Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 70 S.Ct. 652, 94 L.Ed. 865 (1950). And secondly, there must exist a sufficient connection between the defendant and the forum state such that traditional notions of substantial justice and fair play are not offended by requiring defense of the action in the forum. Kulko v. Superior Court of California, 436 U.S. 84, 98 S.Ct. 1690, 56 L.Ed.2d 132 (1978); Milliken v. Meyer, 311 U.S. 457, 61 S.Ct. 339, 85 L.Ed. 278 (1940).

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