Exito Electronics., Co., Ltd. v. Trejo

166 S.W.3d 839, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 4602, 2005 WL 1405739
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 16, 2005
Docket13-02-368-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 166 S.W.3d 839 (Exito Electronics., Co., Ltd. v. Trejo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Exito Electronics., Co., Ltd. v. Trejo, 166 S.W.3d 839, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 4602, 2005 WL 1405739 (Tex. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by

Justice CASTILLO.

This is an interlocutory appeal from the trial court’s order denying the special appearance of Exito Electronics Company, Ltd. (“Exito-Taiwan”), appellant. 1 Appel-lees include Virginia Trejo, individually and as representative of the estate of Pau-lino Trejo, Nadia Guadalupe Salvador Guz *847 man, individually, and Aurelio Salvador Florez, individually and as representative of the estate of Juana Zuniga, deceased, and as next friend of Maria de la Luz Crecencia Salvador Guzman, a minor (together, “Trejo”). Appellees also include Pacific Eleetricord Co., Inc. (“Pacific Elec-tricord”) and Woods Industries, Inc. (“Woods”). 2 We affirm the trial court’s denial of the special appearance as to Exi-to-Taiwan and reverse as to Exito-Philip-pines.

I. RELEVANT FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On Christmas Day in 1998, Paulino Tre-jo and Juana Zuniga died in a house fire in Hillsboro, Texas. Relatives of the victims filed suit on September 9, 1999, alleging the fire was caused by a defective extension cord. Original defendants included numerous alleged distributors. An amended petition filed December 22, 2000, included Exito-Taiwan as a defendant. It alleged that Exito-Taiwan had manufactured the extension cord in issue and that, although Exito-Taiwan was a foreign corporation organized under the laws of Taiwan, it conducted business in Texas. Tre-jo sought service on Exito-Taiwan under rule 108a(l)(e) of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure and the Texas long-arm statute, as provided in sections 17.044 and 17.045 of the Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code. <See Tex.R. Civ. P. 108a(l)(c); Tex. Crv. PRAc. & Rem.Code Ann. §§ 17.044, 17.045 (Vernon 1997 and Supp.2004-05).

On March 5, 2001, Exito-Taiwan timely filed its special appearance and accompanying affidavits, objecting to jurisdiction being exercised over it by a Texas court. 3 Trejo, Pacific Eleetricord, and Woods all opposed the special appearance, contending that (1) special and general personal jurisdiction existed over Exito-Taiwan, and (2) an exercise of that jurisdiction would not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. The parties engaged in discovery related to the special appearance, including the deposition of Ex-ito-Taiwan’s corporate representative, Mr. Wu. A hearing was held June 3, 2002, at which the parties addressed evidence developed in this process. The trial court’s order denying Exito-Taiwan’s special ap *848 pearance was entered June 19, 2002, 4 and provided “that sufficient minimum contacts exist to create both specific arid general jurisdiction over Exito[-Taiwan] and Exi-to-P[hilippines], and that the exercise of jurisdiction over Exito[-Taiwan] and Exi-to-P[hilippines] will not offend the traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.” Specific findings provide as follows:

a. Exito 5 has voluntarily submitted to the jurisdiction of a Texas court by filing a general denial in Cause No. 99-4552; Quilicot v. Exito, Ltd., et al.; in the 205th Judicial District Court of El Paso County, Texas.
b. The lawsuit in El Paso, Texas involves an extension cord allegedly manufactured by Exito which was allegedly defective and caused a fire.
c. Exito has and still does systematically and continuously engage in business with a Texas resident, Inter-trade Industries, in Fort Worth, Texas from as early as 1995.
d. Exito exclusively manufactures SPT-2, 16AWG house-hold extension cords for sale in the United States and sells all of its cords to American companies.
e. Exito has the expectation that many of the SPT-2, 16AWG extension cords will reach Texas consumers.
f. Exito is aware that its SPT-2, 16AWG extension cords are shipped directly to Texas and has intentionally directed its cords to Dallas/Fort Worth airport in Texas via airfreight.
g. Exito has knowingly shipped more than five million house-hold extension cords to Texas in 1998.
h. Exito has specifically marketed goods, including SPT-2, 16AWG house-hold extension cords, to Texas residents via the Worldwide Web.
i. Exito has entered into contracts with insurance carriers to defend itself in lawsuits throughout the United States and in Texas.
j. The traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice are not offended by litigating this case in Texas because Exito has previously defended itself in a Texas Court, The State of Texas has a significant interest in resolving this action for the safety of its consumers; Plaintiffs and the other Defendants have a significant interest in resolving this case in Texas; this lawsuit may be more efficiently resolved in Texas and no evidence suggests that another forum is more appropriate to resolve this matter;
[k]. Exito’s officers and directors have traveled to Texas on behalf of Exi-to and Exito-P 6 for both business and pleasure. Exito and Exito-P share officers, directors and/or shareholders.
[l]. Exito-P manufactures SPT-2, 16AWG house-hold extension cords . authorized and approved by Underwriters Laboratory for use in the United States and in Texas and Exito is the exclusive client of Exi-to-P.
*849 As a result of these specific findings and the other evidence presented, the Court finds that it has specific and general jurisdiction over Exito and Exito-P and that the exercise of jurisdiction over Ex-ito and Exito-P will not offend the traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.
ORDERED that the Rule 120a Special Appearance of Defendants EXITO ELECTRONICS, CO., LTD., and EXI-TO ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.— PHILIPPINES objecting to the jurisdiction of this Court are in all respects DENIED. 7

This interlocutory appeal followed.

On original submission, we held that Ex-ito-Taiwan waived its special appearance by filing Rule 11 agreements 8 and engaging in discovery before obtaining a determination on the special appearance. Exito Elecs. v. Trejo, 99 S.W.3d 360, 373 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 2003), rev’d and remanded, 142 S.W.3d 302 (Tex.2004). We also determined Exito-Taiwan’s affidavits were fatally defective. Id. The Supreme Court reversed, concluding that we erroneously found waiver and that defective affidavits or verifications do not concede jurisdiction. Exito Elecs. v.

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Bluebook (online)
166 S.W.3d 839, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 4602, 2005 WL 1405739, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/exito-electronics-co-ltd-v-trejo-texapp-2005.