Makuta v. Xerox Corp.

39 Va. Cir. 473, 1996 Va. Cir. LEXIS 199
CourtLoudoun County Circuit Court
DecidedJuly 24, 1996
DocketCase No. (Law) 17251
StatusPublished

This text of 39 Va. Cir. 473 (Makuta v. Xerox Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Loudoun County Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Makuta v. Xerox Corp., 39 Va. Cir. 473, 1996 Va. Cir. LEXIS 199 (Va. Super. Ct. 1996).

Opinion

By Judge Thomas D. Horne

This personal injury action is before the Court on Defendant Da-Lite Screen Company, Inc.’s Motion in Abatement requesting a dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction and Defendant Xerox Corporation’s Jurisdictional Plea of the Workers’ Compensation Bar requesting a dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Upon consideration of the arguments by counsel on these matters and the various documents filed in support thereof, the Court finds that it has the authority to exercise personal jurisdiction over Defendant Da-Lite Screen Company, Inc., but not subject matter jurisdiction over Xerox Corporation. Therefore, for the reasons that follow, the instant Motion in Abatement is overruled and the instant Jurisdictional Plea for the Workers’ Compensation Bar is sustained.

Except as to how the pertinent statutes should be applied to them, the basic facts germane to the resolution of these pretrial controversies are not in dispute. This litigation arises from an injury suffered by Plaintiff Makuta when, at the conclusion of a seminar he was presenting at the Xerox Document University, an overhead projection screen that he had been using for his presentation detached from its ceiling fixture, swung down, and struck his left arm. Mr. Makuta was the immediate employee of the Graphics Arts Technical Foundation (“GATF”) at the time of the incident, and his presentation on graphic arts was given in conjunction [474]*474with the Color ’94 Convention held at the Xerox Document University in Loudoun County, Virginia. The overhead screen that fell into Mr. Makuta was alleged to have been supplied by Defendant Xerox Corporation, manufactured by Defendant Da-Lite Screen Company, Inc., purchased by Xerox from a third defendant, Ritz Audio-Visual Associates, Inc., and installed by one of the three named defendants.

Personal Jurisdiction

Asserting it does not transact business in Virginia to the extent that this Court can exercise personal jurisdiction over it, Defendant Da-Lite moves the Court to dismiss this action as to it.1 In support of its Motion in Abatement, Da-Lite adduces an affidavit of its Vice President of Finance, Jerry Bingle, who states that Da-Lite is an Indiana corporation, with its main office in Warsaw, Indiana, and with plants in Indiana, Ohio, and Kansas. Da-Lite, according to Mr. Bingle, has no offices, plants, or employees based in Virginia. Its only contact with the Commonwealth is a sales representative based in Maryland who periodically makes sales calls on Da-Lite’s customers in Virginia. Those customers, however, send their orders directly to Da-Lite’s main office in Warsaw.

Plaintiff Makuta counters Da-Lite’s motion with the contention that DaLite’s business activities in Virginia put it within the ambit of §§ 8.01-328.1(A)(1) and 8.01-328.1(A)(4), thus placing Da-Lite under this Court’s jurisdiction. In support thereof, Makuta offers the deposition of Sam Gremillion, Da-Lite’s sales consultant in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. Among other things, Mr. Gremillion testifies that he is indeed employed by Da-Lite; that he is paid on a commission basis; that he distributes promotional Da-Lite literature to dealers in Virginia; that he phones or visits the approximate 180 to 200 established dealers of Da-Lite products in Virginia; that his duties include introducing new products to those deal[475]*475ers, assisting them with shipping delays, warranty questions, or damaged goods, and helping them with any other problems related to Da-Lite products; that Da-Lite annually grosses approximately 1.7 million dollars from merchandise sales in Maryland and Virginia combined, of which at least one million dollars a year is thought to come from sales in Virginia; that Da-Lite sends promotional letters to its dealers in Virginia soliciting business; and that his customers do not place their orders through him but directly with Da-Lite’s main office in Warsaw, Indiana.

The issue before the Court, then, is whether Da-Lite’s business activities in Virginia are sufficient under Virginia’s Long Arm Statute, Virginia Code § 8.01-328.1, to subject Da-Lite to the personal jurisdiction of this Court. Personal jurisdiction analysis under Virginia’s Long Arm Statute is a two-step process. First, the Court must determine, as a matter of statutory interpretation, whether the language of § 8.01-328.1 reaches Da-Lite’s conduct with respect to each of the alleged causes of action brought against Da-Lite. If it does not, personal jurisdiction cannot be asserted under the Long Arm Statute for that cause of action. If, however, Da-Lite’s conduct does fall within the ambit of any of the Statute’s provisions, the Court must then determine whether Da-Lite’s contacts with Virginia are sufficient to satisfy the due process requirements of the United States Constitution. Peanut Corp. of America v. Hollywood Brands, Inc., 696 F.2d 311, 313 (4th Cir. 1982).

In pertinent part, Virginia’s Long Arm Statute provides:

(A) A court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a person, who acts directly or by an agent, as to a cause of action arising from the person’s:
1. Transacting any business in this Commonwealth;
2. Contracting to supply services or things in this Commonwealth;
3. Causing tortious injury by an act or omission in this Commonwealth;
4. Causing tortious injury in this Commonwealth by an act or omission outside this Commonwealth if he regularly does or solicits business or engages in any other persistent course of conduct or derives substantial revenue from goods used or consumed or services rendered in this Commonwealth;
5. Causing injury in this Commonwealth to any person by breach of warranty expressly or impliedly made in the sale of goods outside this Commonwealth when he might reasonably [476]*476have expected such person to use, consume, or be affected by the goods in this Commonwealth, provided that he also regularly does or solicits business, or engages in any other persistent course of conduct, or derives substantial revenue from goods used or consumed or services rendered in this Commonwealth
(B) When jurisdiction over a person is based solely on this section, only a cause of action arising from acts enumerated in this section may be asserted against him.

Va. Code Ann. § 8.01-328.1. The Supreme Court of Virginia, in construing the extent of in personam jurisdiction under Virginia’s Long Arm Statute, opined that the purpose of the statute “is to assert jurisdiction over nonresidents who engage in some purposeful activity in this State to the extent permissible under the due process clause.” Kolbe, Inc. v. Chromodern Chair Co., 211 Va. 736, 740 (1971).

Plaintiff Makuta asserts four causes of action against Da-Lite. Count III of the Amended Motion for Judgment sets forth a prima facie showing that Da-Lite, in negligently installing the overhead screen at the Xerox Document University in Loudoun County, caused tortious injury to the Plaintiff by an act or omission in Virginia. Clearly, then, § 8.01-328.1(A)(3) applies to Count III. Subsection (A)(3) also applies to Count XII of the Amended Motion for Judgment which asserts a prima facie

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

International Shoe Co. v. Washington
326 U.S. 310 (Supreme Court, 1945)
Hanson v. Denckla
357 U.S. 235 (Supreme Court, 1958)
Callanan v. United States
364 U.S. 587 (Supreme Court, 1961)
Smith v. Horn
351 S.E.2d 14 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1986)
Cinnamon v. International Business MacHines Corp.
384 S.E.2d 618 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1989)
Henderson v. Central Tel. Co. of Virginia
355 S.E.2d 596 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1987)
John G. Kolbe, Inc. v. Chromodern Chair Co.
180 S.E.2d 664 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1971)
Ford v. City of Richmond
391 S.E.2d 270 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1990)
Bassett Furniture Industries, Inc. v. McReynolds
224 S.E.2d 323 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1976)
Carmody v. F. W. Woolworth Co.
361 S.E.2d 128 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1987)
Shell Oil Co. v. Leftwich
187 S.E.2d 162 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1972)
Intermodal Services, Inc. v. Smith
364 S.E.2d 221 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1988)
Griffith v. Raven Red Ash Coal Co.
20 S.E.2d 530 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1942)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
39 Va. Cir. 473, 1996 Va. Cir. LEXIS 199, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/makuta-v-xerox-corp-vaccloudoun-1996.