Ford Motor Co. v. Mont. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court

2019 MT 115, 443 P.3d 407, 395 Mont. 478
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 21, 2019
DocketOP 19-0099
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 2019 MT 115 (Ford Motor Co. v. Mont. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ford Motor Co. v. Mont. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court, 2019 MT 115, 443 P.3d 407, 395 Mont. 478 (Mo. 2019).

Opinion

*411***482¶1 Ford Motor Company (Ford) petitions this Court for a writ of supervisory control following an order of the Eighth Judicial District Court, Cascade County, in Charles Lucero v. Ford Motor Company , ADV-18-247(b), denying its motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. We accept supervisory control, conclude Montana has specific personal jurisdiction over Ford in this case, and accordingly affirm the District Court's order. This Opinion and Order addresses the following issue:

Does Montana have specific personal jurisdiction over Ford regarding Lucero's design defect, failure to warn, and negligence claims when the vehicle accident occurred in Montana but the vehicle was not designed, manufactured, or first sold by Ford in Montana?

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶2 Markkaya Jean Gullett, a Montana resident, drove a 1996 Ford Explorer. Ford did not design or manufacture the Explorer in Montana. Ford assembled the Explorer in Kentucky and sold it for the first time to a dealer in Washington. Over ten years later, the Explorer was ***483resold and registered in Montana. In 2015, as Gullett drove the Explorer on the interstate in Montana, one of the Explorer's tires suffered a tread/belt separation. The vehicle lost stability, rolled into a ditch, and came to rest upside down. Gullett died at the scene. Gullett's personal representative, Charles Lucero (Lucero), filed this suit against Ford in Montana state district court on behalf of Gullett and her heirs. The complaint alleges three claims against Ford: strict liability for design defect, strict liability for failure to warn, and negligence. Lucero seeks compensatory and punitive damages.

¶3 Defendant Ford moved to dismiss, arguing Montana does not have specific personal jurisdiction over Ford regarding Lucero's claims and specifically reasoning that there is no link between Ford's Montana contacts and Lucero's claims. The District Court disagreed and ultimately concluded it had specific personal jurisdiction over Ford.

¶4 Ford now asks this Court to exercise supervisory control over the District Court, conclude no specific personal jurisdiction exists, and dismiss the case against Ford. Ford faults the District Court for resting its analysis on Ford's in-state contacts and the fact that Gullett was injured in Montana, arguing the court erred when it failed to identify a link between Ford's contacts with Montana and Lucero's claims. Lucero asserts the court's exercise of specific personal jurisdiction is appropriate in this case.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶5 This Court has supervisory control over Montana courts. Mont. Const. art. VII, § 2 (2); see also Great Falls Clinic LLP v. Mont. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court , 2016 MT 245, ¶ 6, 385 Mont. 95, 381 P.3d 550. Supervisory control is an extraordinary remedy and we determine whether to use it on a case-by-case basis. M. R. App. P. 14(3). We may exercise supervisory control when "urgency ... mak[es] the normal appeal process inadequate," "the case involves purely legal questions," and "[c]onstitutional issues of state-wide importance are involved." M. R. App. P. 14(3)(b).

¶6 This Court reviews a personal jurisdiction ruling de novo. Tackett v. Duncan , 2014 MT 253, ¶ 16, 376 Mont. 348, 334 P.3d 920.

*412DISCUSSION

¶7 We accept Ford's petition for supervisory control to resolve the issue of whether a Montana state court may exercise specific personal jurisdiction over Ford regarding Lucero's design defect, failure to warn, and negligence claims. Urgency makes the normal appeal process inadequate in this case involving personal jurisdiction, because the ***484District Court must have power over the parties in a proceeding to afford adequate relief. The question is purely legal and of state-wide constitutional importance: Ford's due process rights are at issue and this decision will clarify when persons injured in Montana may appropriately file suit in Montana courts. We accordingly accept supervisory control and, for the following reasons, affirm the District Court's decision finding that Montana may exercise specific personal jurisdiction over Ford in this case.

¶8 Personal jurisdiction-a court's power over the parties in a proceeding-may be general (all-purpose) or specific (case-linked). DeLeon v. BNSF Ry. Co. , 2018 MT 219, ¶ 7, 392 Mont. 446, 426 P.3d 1. "General personal jurisdiction is premised upon the defendant's relationship to the forum state, while specific personal jurisdiction is premised upon the defendant's relationship to both the forum state and the particular cause of action." DeLeon , ¶ 7. Ford is undisputedly not subject to general personal jurisdiction in Montana. See BNSF Ry. Co. v. Tyrrell , 581 U.S. ----, ----, 137 S. Ct. 1549, 1559, 198 L.Ed.2d 36 (2017). The question in this case, therefore, is whether Montana may exercise specific personal jurisdiction over Ford regarding Lucero's design defect, failure to warn, and negligence claims.

¶9 Specific personal jurisdiction exists when the suit itself "arises from the specific circumstances set forth in Montana's long-arm statute, M. R. Civ. P. 4(b)(1)." Buckles v. Cont'l Res., Inc. , 2017 MT 235, ¶ 15, 388 Mont. 517, 402 P.3d 1213. A Montana court's exercise of specific personal jurisdiction "depends on whether the defendant's 'suit-related conduct' created a substantial connection with" Montana. Tackett , ¶ 19 (quoting Walden v. Fiore , 571 U.S. 277

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Bluebook (online)
2019 MT 115, 443 P.3d 407, 395 Mont. 478, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ford-motor-co-v-mont-eighth-judicial-dist-court-mont-2019.