Pedersen Fisheries, Inc. v. Patti Industries, Inc.

563 F. Supp. 72, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18190, 1983 A.M.C. 2875
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedMarch 29, 1983
DocketC82-1089B
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 563 F. Supp. 72 (Pedersen Fisheries, Inc. v. Patti Industries, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pedersen Fisheries, Inc. v. Patti Industries, Inc., 563 F. Supp. 72, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18190, 1983 A.M.C. 2875 (W.D. Wash. 1983).

Opinion

ORDER OF DISMISSAL

BEEKS, Senior District Judge.

Plaintiffs, Pedersen Fisheries, Inc., Rolf Orle and Herman Orle, as owners of the F/V OCEAN GRACE, and as trustees on behalf of the vessel’s crew members brought this action at law and in admiralty against defendant, Patti Industries, Inc., on September 21, 1982. OCEAN GRACE is a commercial king crab fishing vessel 107 feet in length constructed by defendant in 1979 and sold to Pedersen Fisheries in July, 1980. Subsequently, on November 9, 1981, the vessel’s mast, rigging, and other deck equipment collapsed While the vessel was “crab *74 bing” approximately.200 miles northeast of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Plaintiffs’ complaint alleges five separate claims for relief: (1) negligent design, manufacture, testing, warning and inspection of the vessel; (2) sale of a vessel in a defective condition; (3) breach of express warranty; (4) breach of implied warranty of merchantability; and (5) breach of implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. Plaintiffs claim damages in the amount of $175,000 for repairs and $250,000 for lost fishing profits.

On October 12, 1982, defendant appeared and moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. In support of its motion, defendant maintains: (1) defendant is a Florida corporation with its principal and only place of business in Pensacola, Florida; (2) defendant had no business operations, property holdings, employees or agents in the State of Washington; (3) the parties negotiated and signed a contract to construct and sell the vessel in Pensacola; (4) defendant constructed the vessel in Pensacola; (5) defendant delivered the vessel to plaintiffs in Pensacola; and (6) any negligent acts that allegedly occurred in the design, manm facture or construction of the vessel must have occurred in Florida. Defendant notes the damage to the vessel occurred not in Washington, but in the Bering Sea approximately 200 miles north of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Defendant submits that in the absence of any acts committed by defendant in Washington and with the injury occurring on the high seas, plaintiffs are without a jurisdictional basis.

Plaintiffs oppose the motion and assert the defendant not only transacted business within the State of Washington, but also committed a tortious act within the state and as a consequence subjected itself to jurisdiction under Washington’s long arm statute, Wash.Rev.Code § 4.28.185(l)(a) and (b) (Supp.1982).

As the parties invoking the court’s jurisdiction, plaintiffs have the burden of establishing such jurisdiction. Data Disc, Inc. v. Systems Technology Ass’n, 557 F.2d 1280, 1285 (9th Cir.1977). When, as here, only affidavits or discovery materials are considered, only a prima facie showing is required. Id.

The court must consider two questions in determining whether in personam jurisdiction exists: first, whether the applicable statute potentially confers jurisdiction; second, whether the assertion of such jurisdiction comports with due process. Plant Food Co-Op v. Wolfkill Feed & Fertilizer Corp., 633 F.2d 155, 157 (9th Cir.1980).

Washington’s long arm statute provides in part:

(1) Any person, whether or not a citizen or resident of this state, who in person or through an agent does any of the acts in this section enumerated, thereby submits said person, and, if an individual, his personal representative, to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state as to any cause of action arising from the doing of any of said acts:
(a) The transaction of any business within this state;
(b) The commission of a tortious act within this state....

Wash.Rev.Code § 4.28.185. The state’s interpretation of its statute binds this court. Greenspun v. Del E. Webb Corp., 634 F.2d 1204, 1207 (9th Cir.1980). Section 4.28.185 has been construed to empower the state courts of Washington to exercise their jurisdiction to the fullest extent possible under the due process clause. Deutsch v. West Coast Machinery Co., 80 Wash.2d 707, 711, 497 P.2d 1311; Tyee Construction Co. v. Dulien Steel Products, Inc., 62 Wash.2d 106, 109, 381 P.2d 245 (1963); see Tillay v. Idaho Power Co., 425 F.Supp. 376, 378 (E.D.Wash. 1976). As a result of such a construction, the statutory and constitutional standards merge into a single due process test.

Due process allows the state court to exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant only so long as minimum contacts exist within the forum state and the maintenance of the suit “does not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.” Worldwide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286, 291—92, 100 S.Ct. 559, 564, 62 L.Ed.2d 490 (1980); *75 International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 316, 66 S.Ct. 154, 158, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945). This circuit has developed a three-pronged test to evaluate the nature and quality of a defendant’s contacts with the forum: (1) the nonresident defendant must do some act or consummate some transaction within the forum or perform some act by which he purposely avails himself of the privilege of conducting activities in the forum, thereby invoking the benefits and protections of its law; (2) the claim must be one which arises out of or results from the defendant’s forum related activities; (3) the exercise of jurisdiction must be reasonable. Plant Food Co-Op v. Wolfkill Feed & Fertilizer Corp., at 159; Data Disc, Inc. v. Systems Technology Ass’n, Inc., at 1287.

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Bluebook (online)
563 F. Supp. 72, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18190, 1983 A.M.C. 2875, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pedersen-fisheries-inc-v-patti-industries-inc-wawd-1983.