Hess ex rel. B.H. v. Bumbo International Trust

954 F. Supp. 2d 590, 2013 WL 3157917, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86969
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Texas
DecidedJune 20, 2013
DocketCivil Action No. 6:12-cv-00040
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 954 F. Supp. 2d 590 (Hess ex rel. B.H. v. Bumbo International Trust) 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
Hess ex rel. B.H. v. Bumbo International Trust, 954 F. Supp. 2d 590, 2013 WL 3157917, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86969 (S.D. Tex. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

GREGG COSTA, District Judge.

This case arises from an accident involving a Bumbo Baby Seat, an infant seat manufactured by Defendant Bumbo International Trust and sold by Defendant Target Corporation. Plaintiffs Theresa and William Hess bring a number of product liability claims, alleging that a Bumbo Baby Seat caused serious injury to their infant child. Bumbo, a South African entity, filed a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. Alternatively, it seeks dismissal on the ground that it was not properly served because it does not fall under Texas’s long-arm statute, on which the Hesses relied. After reviewing the parties’ submissions, the evidence, and the law, this Court determines that it has personal jurisdiction over Bumbo and that Bumbo was properly served. Accordingly, Bumbo’s motion to dismiss is DENIED.

I. Background

The Bumbo Baby Seat is a molded foam infant seat designed, manufactured, and sold by Bumbo. The Hesses, residents of Arizona, claim that they received a Bumbo Baby Seat as a gift from Theresa Hess’s sister, who purchased it at a Target in Arizona. Docket Entry Nos. 1 ¶¶ 5,14; 12 [592]*592at 1. They allege that on September 10, 2010, their then eight-month-old son sat in the Bumbo Baby Seat, which was placed on the floor, under the supervision of his babysitter. Docket Entry No. 1 ¶ 15. Without warning, they claim, their son “flipped out” of the seat onto the floor, fracturing his skull and requiring extensive medical treatment. Id.

Although the injury occurred in Arizona, the Hesses brought this action in federal court in Texas, where they contend Bumbo has its most significant contacts in the United States. The Hesses served process on Bumbo through the secretary of state under Texas’s long-arm statute. Docket Entry No. 10. Bumbo challenged jurisdiction, arguing that it lacks the required contacts with Texas for the Court to exercise general jurisdiction. Docket Entry No. 12 at 6-7. It further challenges the Hesses’ service of process, claiming that it cannot be served under the long-arm statute because it does not engage in business in Texas, and even if it did, the Hesses’ causes of action do not arise out of that business. Docket Entry No. 12 at 8. As evidence of the Court’s jurisdiction over Bumbo and applicability of the long-arm statute, the Hesses point to Bumbo’s extensive relationship with distributor Wart-burg, Inc., a Texas company, and prior litigation that Bumbo has pursued in Texas. Docket Entry No. 15 at 12-13, 15-16.

II. Personal Jurisdiction

A. Legal Standard for Personal Jurisdiction

To invoke the power of the court, the plaintiff bears the burden of establishing jurisdiction when a nonresident defendant challenges personal jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2). Pervasive Software, Inc. v. Lexware GmbH & Co. KG, 688 F.3d 214, 219 (5th Cir.2012) (quoting Seiferth v. Helicopteros Atuneros, Inc., 472 F.3d 266, 270 (5th Cir.2006)). “When the district court rules on a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction ‘without an evidentiary hearing, the plaintiff may bear his burden by presenting a prima facie case that personal jurisdiction is proper.’” Quick Techs., Inc. v. Sage Grp. PLC, 313 F.3d 338, 343 (5th Cir.2002) (quoting Wilson v. Belin, 20 F.3d 644, 648 (5th Cir.1994)). The court “must accept as true the uncontroverted allegations in the complaint and resolve in favor of the plaintiff any factual conflicts.” Stripling v. Jordan Prod. Co., LLC, 234 F.3d 863, 869 (5th Cir.2000) (quoting Latshaw v. Johnston, 167 F.3d 208, 211 (5th Cir.1999)).

A federal court sitting in diversity may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant if the state long-arm statute confers personal jurisdiction over that defendant and exercising such jurisdiction is consistent with due process. Pervasive Software, 688 F.3d at 220 (citation omitted). Because the Texas long-arm statute confers jurisdiction to the limits of due process, “the two-step inquiry collapses into one federal due process analysis.” Johnston v. Multidata Sys. Int’l Corp., 523 F.3d 602, 609 (5th Cir.2008). “The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects a corporation ... against being made subject to the binding judgments of a forum with which it has established no meaningful ‘contacts, ties, or relations.’ ” Pervasive Software, 688 F.3d at 220 (quoting Int’l Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 319, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945)). “The canonical opinion in this area remains [International Shoe ], in which [the Supreme Court] held that a State may authorize its courts to exercise personal jurisdiction over an out-of-state defendant if the defendant has ‘certain minimum contacts with [the State] such that the maintenance of the suit does [593]*593not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.’ ” Goodyear Dunlop Tires Ops., S.A. v. Brown, — U.S. -, 131 S.Ct. 2846, 2853, 180 L.Ed.2d 796 (2011) (quoting Int’l Shoe, 326 U.S. at 316, 66 S.Ct. 154) (brackets in original, internal quotation marks omitted). If a plaintiff establishes minimum contacts, the burden then shifts to the defendant to show that asserting jurisdiction would offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. Mobius Risk Group, LLC v. Global Clean Energy Holdings, Inc., No. H-10-1708, 2012 WL 590926, at *3 (S.D.Tex. Feb. 22, 2012) (citation omitted).

“There are two types of ‘minimum contacts’: those that give rise to specific personal jurisdiction and those that give rise to general personal jurisdiction.” Lewis v. Fresne, 252 F.3d 352, 358 (5th Cir.2001). Whereas specific personal jurisdiction is “case-linked” and grants a court only the power to hear “issues deriving from, or connected with, the very controversy that establishes jurisdietion[,]” general personal jurisdiction is “all-purpose” and grants a court the power “to hear any and all claims against” a party regardless of where the events at issue took place. Goodyear, 131 S.Ct. at 2851 (quoting Arthur T. von Mehren & Donald T. Trautman, Jurisdiction to Adjudicate: A Suggested Analysis, 79 Harv. L.Rev. 1121, 1136 (1966)). As highlighted by recent Supreme Court decisions, general jurisdiction requires a substantially higher degree of contacts than specific jurisdiction. Compare Goodyear, 131 S.Ct. at 2851 (ruling on general jurisdiction), with J. McIntyre Mach., Ltd. v. Nicastro, — U.S. -, 131 S.Ct.

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954 F. Supp. 2d 590, 2013 WL 3157917, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86969, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hess-ex-rel-bh-v-bumbo-international-trust-txsd-2013.