McBead Drilling Co. v. Kremco, Ltd.

490 So. 2d 674, 1986 La. App. LEXIS 7222
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 11, 1986
Docket17892-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 490 So. 2d 674 (McBead Drilling Co. v. Kremco, Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McBead Drilling Co. v. Kremco, Ltd., 490 So. 2d 674, 1986 La. App. LEXIS 7222 (La. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

490 So.2d 674 (1986)

McBEAD DRILLING COMPANY, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
KREMCO, LTD. et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 17892-CA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

June 11, 1986.

Goff & Goff by A. Kennon Goff, III, Ruston, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Cook, Yancey, King & Galloway by Charles G. Tutt, Shreveport, for defendant-appellee The Dickirson Equipment Corp.

Before HALL, JASPER E. JONES and LINDSAY, JJ.

LINDSAY, Judge.

The plaintiffs, McBead Drilling Company (McBead) and Northwestern National Insurance Company appeal the trial court judgment dismissing their claims against the defendant, the Dickirson Corporation (Dickirson). The trial court sustained Dickirson's exception of lack of personal jurisdiction after the matter was submitted to the court on briefs, with other evidence also submitted in support of the exception. We affirm the trial court's judgment.

The plaintiffs instituted this suit on December 3, 1982 when they filed a petition alleging that the following defendants were solidarily indebted for the loss of revenues and other damages arising from the collapse of an oil rig. The named defendants included KREMCO, Ltd., KREMCO, Inc., the Dickirson Corporation, Dickirson Equipment Corporation, National Union Fire Insurance Company, DRECO, Inc., DRECO Energy Services, Ltd.

*675 McBead, a corporation domiciled in the state of Arkansas, with its principal place of business there, purchased the subject KREMCO K600 Rotary Drilling Rig for $658,680 from Dickirson, a corporation domiciled in West Virginia. The rig was delivered to McBead's yard in southern Arkansas in late October or early November, 1981. The rig was then moved by McBead to Louisiana for drilling operations in this state. On December 3, 1981, the rig suddenly collapsed while in normal use in Caddo Parish, Louisiana. In their petition, plaintiffs alleged that design and structural defects were the cause of the rig's collapse.

Two defendants, Dickirson and Rainwater Oilfield Equipment Company (Rainwater) filed "peremptory" exceptions of lack of personal jurisdiction.[1] Rainwater had operated as Dickirson Equipment Corporation until the name was changed in April, 1982. Other defendants named in the suit made general appearances and the case is now pending, awaiting the outcome of this appeal.

After reviewing the briefs and other evidence submitted by the parties, the trial court in a written opinion, granted the exceptions of both Dickirson and Rainwater. The plaintiffs moved for a rehearing contending that the trial court had failed to consider certain amended provisions of the Louisiana Long Arm Statute, LSA-R.S. 13:3201, et seq., in arriving at its initial opinion. The trial court, however, denied the plaintiff's motion stating that it would not apply the 1984 amendments to the Long Arm Statute in the instant case. The court noted that those provisions were not in effect at the time the alleged loss occurred or at the time this suit was filed. A final judgment dismissing the plaintiffs' claims against the two defendants was signed on August 30, 1985 and filed September 3, 1985. The plaintiffs filed a timely devolutive appeal from this judgment rendered in favor of Dickirson Corporation.[2]

Although the trial court was incorrect in concluding that the 1984 Amendments to the Long Arm Statute were not to be applied retroactively, we affirm the court's decision, finding that the assertion of personal jurisdiction over this defendant would have been violative of constitutional due process requirements.

The trial court in this case found that the only provision of LSA-R.S. 13:3201 applicable at the time of the alleged loss and at the time suit was filed, was subparagraph (d). The trial judge noted that this paragraph provided:

A court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident, who acts directly or by an agent, as to a cause of action arising from the nonresident's (d) causing injury or damage in this state by an offense or quasi offense committed through an act or omission outside of this state 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 state[.]

In 1984, several amendments were enacted with respect to this statute, including the deletion of the word "substantial" from the paragraph above, and the addition of a new subparagraph, so that the statute presently contains the following language:

A court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident, who acts directly or by an agent, as to a cause of action arising from any one of the following activities performed by the nonresident: (8) Manufacturing of a product or component *676 thereof which caused damage or injury in this state, if at the time of placing the product into the stream of commerce, the manufacturer could have foreseen, realized, expected, or anticipated that the product may eventually be found in this state by reason of its nature and the manufacturer's marketing practices.

The language of the paragraph noted directly above, would appear to address the situation at hand, if this amendment could be applied retroactively to encompass the facts of this case. In Nelson v. Continental Casualty Company, 412 So.2d 701 (La. App. 2d Cir.1982), writ denied 413 So.2d 507 (La.1982), the court noted that the general principle of nonretroactivity of law is expressed in LSA-C.C. Art. 8 which provides:

A law can prescribe only for the future; it can have no retrospective operation, nor can it impair the obligation of contracts.

Although LSA-R.S. 1:2 also provides that no statute is retroactive unless it is expressly so stated, this court recognized that there are exceptions to the rule of nonretroactivity, observing that many cases have noted that interpretive, remedial, curative, or procedural laws are generally accorded retroactive application. See e.g. Green v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, 352 So.2d 366 (La.App. 4th Cir. 1977), writ denied 354 So.2d 210 (La.1978); Morrison Food Service, Inc. v. Cohen, 376 So.2d 182 (La.App. 4th Cir.1979). In Dripps v. Dripps, 366 So.2d 544 (La.1978), the Louisiana Supreme Court revealed the following:

The general interest, which is here but the aggregate of individual interest, therefore requires that what has been done regularly under the aegis of the law, be considered valid, and consequently, that it remain stable, even after a change in the legislation. Planiol, Vol. 1, No. 240, Treatise on The Civil Law (12 ed. 1939).
Although well-established, the principal of non-retroactivity is subject to exceptions.
Some changes in the law are applicable to all situations, past, present and future. Laws which determine jurisdiction and procedure are applicable, from the date of their promulgation, to all law suits, even to those which bear upon facts and acts of a prior date. They even apply to pending law suits as the decisions already cited demonstrate. The laws are remedial in character concerned with procedure, not substantive rights. They do not impair the obligations of contracts. Planiol, Vol. 1, No. 258.

LSA-R.S. 13:3201 specifically addresses the issue of personal jurisdiction. Therefore, it is a procedural law and as such, should be applied as of the date of its promulgation to "all lawsuits, even those which bear upon facts and acts of a prior date." As noted in Harrell v. Military Department,

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