Lichina v. Futura, Inc.

260 F. Supp. 252, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7308
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedAugust 29, 1966
DocketCiv. A. 9071
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 260 F. Supp. 252 (Lichina v. Futura, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lichina v. Futura, Inc., 260 F. Supp. 252, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7308 (D. Colo. 1966).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

ARRAJ, Chief Judge.

This matter is before the Court on the motions of defendant Riblet Tramway Company to quash service of the alias summons and second amended complaint, to vacate the Orders of the Court dated July 29, 1966, to dismiss, and to strike portions of the second amended complaint. The Court granted an earlier motion to quash because the plaintiff failed to comply with the exact procedure prescribed in Colo.Rev.Stat.Ann. § 31-9-19(3), as amended, Colo.Sess. Laws ch. 109, p. 437 (1965).

Since that time the plaintiff has again sought to perfect in personam service upon the defendant Riblet Tramway Company, a foreign corporation. He has caused process to be served on the Secretary of State in attempted compliance with Colo.Rev.Stat.Ann. § 31-9-19(3), and has served the defendant in Washington, in attempted compliance with Colo.Rev.Stat.Ann. §§ 37-1-26, 37-1-27, Colo.Sess.Laws ch. 119, p. 472 (1965). The latter statute, commonly called the Colorado “long-arm” statute, provides in part as follows:

Section 1. — Jurisdiction of courts.
■ — -(1) (a) Engaging in any act [hereinafter] enumerated by any person, whether or not a resident of the state of Colorado, either in person or by an agent, submits such person, and, if a natural person his personal representative, to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state, concerning any cause of action arising from:
(b) The transaction of any business within this state;
(c) The commission of a tortious act within this state;
******
Section 2. — Service of process. — ■
(1) Service of process upon any person subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of Colorado may be made by personally serving the summons upon the defendant outside this state, in the manner prescribed by the Colorado rules of *254 civil procedure, with the same force and effect as if the summons had been personally served within this state.

Defendant Riblet urges that neither of the statutes mentioned authorizes service of process on it, and that this Court therefore lacks in personam jurisdiction. More specifically, the defendant argues that it is neither “doing” nor “transacting” business in Colorado, and that it has not committed a “tortious act” within this state.

The question of when a state can obtain in personam jurisdiction over a non-resident by service of process outside the state is basically governed by the “minimum contacts” test enunciated in International Shoe Co. v. State of Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 316, 66 S.Ct. 154, 158, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945). In order for the non-resident defendant to be subject to the state’s personal jurisdiction, “he have certain minimum contacts with it such that the maintenance of the suit does not offend ‘traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.’ ” The Colorado “long-arm” statute was designed to codify the “minimum contacts” principle. The defendant denies having the requisite contacts with the forum and therefore disputes the application of the Colorado statute in this case.

1. The problem of whether personal jurisdiction can be based upon the “commission of a tortious act within the state” on facts such as those alleged in the present case has been considered by courts in several other jurisdictions having “long-arm” statutes identical with Colorado’s statute. Here, plaintiff alleges negligent acts by the defendant which must have taken place outside of the state, but the plaintiff’s injuries occurred within the state. Can the “tortious act” be said to have been committed within Colorado ?

Many courts have held that in such a case the tortious act is, at least in part, committed in the forum state. The analogy is drawn to the choice of law principle that “the place of the wrong” is the state in which the last act occurred which gave rise to the cause of action. This is necessarily the state where the injury occurred. Personal jurisdiction has been upheld on this basis in Gray v. American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corp., 22 Ill.2d 432, 176 N.E.2d 761 (1961); Anderson v. Penncraft Tool Co., 200 F.Supp. 145 (N.D.Ill.1961); Ehlers v. United States Heating & Cooling Mfg. Corp., 267 Minn. 56, 124 N.W.2d 824 (1963); and Nixon v. Cohn, 62 Wash.2d 987, 385 P.2d 305 (1963).

In Feathers v. McLucas, 15 N.Y.2d 443, 458, 261 N.Y.S.2d 8, 19, 209 N.E.2d 68, 76 (1965), cert. denied Estwing Mfg. Co. v. Singer, 382 U.S. 905, 86 S.Ct. 241, 15 L.Ed.2d 158, the Court of Appeals of New York disapproved the holding and reasoning of the Gray decision and its successors. The Court pointed out that the analogy to choice of law principles is not an apt one; the place of the wrong for choice of law purposes and for jurisdictional purposes present separate and distinct problems. The statute clearly provides that personal jurisdiction can only be grounded on the commission of a tortious act within the state, and the legislature did not include tortious acts committed without the state which gave rise to injuries within the state. Had that been the legislative intent it could have been accomplished by specific language to that effect.

This Court agrees with the reasoning of the New York Court of Appeals and has previously said that: “Before this statute has any effect on situations of this nature, both the asserted negligent act or acts of the non-resident defendant, as well as the injury they produce, must occur within the state of Colorado.” Arter v. X-Acto, Inc. (#8976), Order of October 19, 1965. Since the alleged tortious conduct by Riblet Tramway Company must have taken place outside of the state, personal jurisdiction over the defendant cannot be based upon this section of the statute.

2. This defendant also denies that it has been “doing” or “transacting” business in the state of Colorado. Again the inquiry must be directed to the “min *255 imum contacts” doctrine. In an Order dated August 13, 1965 this Court denied the motion of Riblet as a third party defendant to quash the summons and dismiss the third party claim brought by defendant Futura, Inc. At that time we held that the minimum contacts requirement had been satisfied, and we recognized the following as relevant contacts:

(a) Salesmen of the third party defendant have on several occasions come into Colorado in pursuit of the said third party defendant’s business;
(b) The third party defendant has consummated several sales of ski tows or lifts in the State of Colorado;

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Bluebook (online)
260 F. Supp. 252, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7308, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lichina-v-futura-inc-cod-1966.