Head v. Las Vegas Sands, LLC

298 F. Supp. 3d 963
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Texas
DecidedMarch 27, 2018
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO. 7:17–CV–00426
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 298 F. Supp. 3d 963 (Head v. Las Vegas Sands, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Head v. Las Vegas Sands, LLC, 298 F. Supp. 3d 963 (S.D. Tex. 2018).

Opinion

Micaela Alvarez, United States District Judge *966The Court now considers Las Vegas Sands, LLC d/b/a the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino/the Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino (the "Venetian");1 MGM Grand Hotel, LLC ("MGM Hotel");2 MGM Resorts International Inc., ("MGM Resorts"),3 Desert Palace, Inc., d/b/a/ Caesar's Palace ("Caesar's Palace");4 Desert Palace LLC ("Desert Palace");5 Harvey's Tahoe Management Company, Inc., d/b/a Harrah's Casino Hotel Lake Tahoe ("Harrah's"); and Caesars Entertainment Corporation's ("Caesars Entertainment")6 (collectively "Defendants") motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.7 The Court also considers Sheri and Haylee Head's ("Plaintiffs") responses,8 and Defendants' replies.9 After duly considering the record and relevant authorities, the Court GRANTS Defendants' motions, and DISMISSES the case WITHOUT PREJUDICE for lack of personal jurisdiction over Defendants.

I. BACKGROUND

This case arises because William Washington Head Jr. ("Decedent")-a high-stakes Las Vegas gambler-tragically committed suicide after plunging into debt.10 Plaintiffs allege that Defendants lured Decedent into debt (and thus into psychological distress and ultimately suicide) by enticing him to gamble in Las Vegas and extending large lines of credit for him to use in the process.11 The alleged enticements included: over $1 million dollars of "customer retention" rebates,12 free first-class travel, luxurious accommodations, luxury items, vacations, food, and beverages.13 Allegedly, Defendants "were aware of the amount of money [Decedent] had received in casino credit and were aware of his huge gambling losses, and they continued to extend additional credit to him, pushing him further into a never ending spiral of debt."14

Decedent's estate entered probate in the Hidalgo County Probate Court.15 Defendants thereafter "filed suit in the pending probate case seeking to enforce their alleged claims on [Decedent's] estate."16 In response, Plaintiffs-Decedent's heirs-filed the instant suit against Defendants in the Hidalgo County Probate Court, alleging wrongful death and intentional infliction of emotional distress ("IIED"), employing the Texas survival statute as a vehicle for relief.17 Defendants subsequently removed18 and filed the instant motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.19 Plaintiffs responded,20 and Defendants *967replied,21 rendering the motions ripe for review. The Court now turns to its analysis.

II. PRELIMINARY MATTERS

The Court first addresses some preliminary matters concerning the ripeness of the instant motions, as well as the scope of the Court's personal jurisdictional analysis.

A. Plaintiffs' request for jurisdictional discovery

Embedded within Plaintiffs' responses to the instant motions are requests for jurisdictional discovery.22 In the Rule 12(b)(2) context, a Court has discretion to permit a party to conduct jurisdictional discovery.23 However, the movant must make a "preliminary showing of jurisdiction" which includes "factual allegations that show with reasonable particularity the possible existence of [personal jurisdiction]."24 Furthermore, the movant must "[1] identify the discovery needed, [2] the facts expected to be obtained thereby, and [3] how such information would support personal jurisdiction."25

Here, for reasons further discussed below, Plaintiffs fail to make a preliminary showing of jurisdiction. Moreover, their requests for jurisdictional discovery contain no rationale or accompanying explanation as to what facts are likely to be discovered which would meaningfully support personal jurisdiction. Plaintiffs' briefing does contain certain unsupported jurisdictional allegations, but-as further discussed below-they are of no consequence, even if they were to be supported by future discovery. For these reasons, Plaintiffs' requests for jurisdictional discovery are DENIED . Consequently, the instant motions are ripe for review.

B. Defendants' motions to strike Sheri Head's affidavit

Sheri Head's two-page affidavit is Plaintiffs' only evidence supporting personal jurisdiction.26 Defendants present objections to this affidavit and move to strike it.27 Specifically, Defendants contend that the affidavit does not comply with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, and that certain statements contained within it are substantively inadmissible hearsay, conclusory, and inadmissible under (uniquely) applicable state evidence rules.28

Defendants each cite a single Fifth Circuit case- Johnston v. Multidata Sys. Int'l Corp.29 -for the proposition that a plaintiff's personal jurisdiction evidence must meet Rule 56 standards.30 However, Johnston simply does not support this *968proposition. The Court cannot otherwise find any cases within the Fifth Circuit supporting this proposition. Importantly, the instant motions were filed under Rule 12(b)(2), not Rule 56. Thus, Rule 56 evidentiary standards do not directly apply to Plaintiffs' evidence, and Defendants' Rule 56 -based objections to Sheri Head's affidavit are unavailing.

Moreover, the general rules of evidence concerning admissibility (e.g. , the rule against hearsay etc.) do not apply in the Rule 12(b)(2) context. Case law within the Fifth Circuit is very scant on this issue, but the only district court which appears to have directly addressed it held that a plaintiff's supporting evidence does not need to be admissible to be considered at the Rule 12(b)(2) stage: "Whether the evidence submitted...will ultimately be admissible at the trial is not relevant at this stage of the proceedings."31 The underlying rationale is two-fold. First , where, as here, the Rule 12(b)(2) motion is ruled on without an evidentiary hearing, the plaintiff only needs to set forth a prima facie case of personal jurisdiction.32 This is less than a preponderance of the evidence.33 Second , and more importantly, Rule 12(b)(2) movants can ultimately hold the plaintiff to his/her burden of establishing personal jurisdiction by a preponderance of the evidence (and subject to the Federal Rules of Evidence) at trial.34

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Bluebook (online)
298 F. Supp. 3d 963, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/head-v-las-vegas-sands-llc-txsd-2018.