Puhlman v. Turner

874 P.2d 291, 1994 Alas. LEXIS 50, 1994 WL 221806
CourtAlaska Supreme Court
DecidedMay 27, 1994
DocketS-5422
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 874 P.2d 291 (Puhlman v. Turner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alaska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Puhlman v. Turner, 874 P.2d 291, 1994 Alas. LEXIS 50, 1994 WL 221806 (Ala. 1994).

Opinions

OPINION

COMPTON, Justice.

The superior court held that if a nonresident parent seeks to enforce in Alaska the visitation provisions of an out-of-state divorce decree, the Alaska court may exercise personal jurisdiction over the nonresident in a proceeding to modify the support provisions of the decree. We vacate the superior court’s order and direct entry of an order dismissing the support modification proceeding.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Terrence L. Puhlman, a member of the United States Armed Forces, and Carol A. Turner married and had two children. On September 15, 1988, they obtained a divorce in Texas. A modification decree entered by the Texas court on July 27, 1990 (Texas Order)1 provides in part that (1) Turner has primary physical custody of the children; (2) Puhlman has visitation rights including custody of the children for approximately three months each summer; (3) Turner is to “deliver,” i.e., be financially responsible for transporting, the children to Puhlman’s residence at the beginning of the summer; (4) Puhlman is to similarly “deliver” the children to Turner’s residence at the end of the summer; and (5) Puhlman is to pay child support in the amount of $296.00 per month during the months in which Turner has custody of the children. Turner and the children moved to Anchorage between entry of the original and modification decrees.

In 1992 Puhlman was stationed in Germany. Turner refused to pay for the children to fly to Germany that summer to visit Puhl-man. Puhlman flew to Anchorage in June and filed the Texas Order with the superior court, AS 09.30.200, and sought a Writ of Assistance to enforce it. He filed a motion for expedited consideration, because he had to return to duty in Germany. Turner filed a cross-motion which, inter alia, sought an increase in child support.

The superior court enforced the Texas Order, directing that the children be allowed to go to Germany for the remainder of the summer, and that Turner bear the expense of their return to Anchorage at the end of the summer. The court deferred consideration of Turner’s cross-motion to increase child support to the regular motions calendar, but opined that it had personal jurisdiction over Puhlman. Puhlman opposed the cross-motion, challenging the Alaska court’s exercise of personal jurisdiction over him. The superior court ruled that Alaska did have personal jurisdiction over [293]*293Puhlman, and began proceedings to modify the child support provisions of the Texas Order.2 Puhlman appeals.3

II. DISCUSSION

It is well-settled that Alaska courts follow federal “minimum contacts” analysis when applying Alaska’s long-arm jurisdiction statute,4 consistent with the due process requirements of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. See, e.g., Glover v. Western Air Lines, Inc., 745 P.2d 1365, 1367 (Alaska 1987); Volkswagenwerk, A.G. v. Klippan, GmbH, 611 P.2d 498, 500 (Alaska), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 974, 101 S.Ct. 385, 66 L.Ed.2d 236 (1980).

The United States Supreme Court analyzed minimum contacts with regard to child support obligations in Kulko v. Superior Court, 436 U.S. 84, 98 S.Ct. 1690, 56 L.Ed.2d 132 (1978). The Kulkos separated in 1972 and were later divorced. Pursuant to a separation agreement negotiated in New York, Kulko, a resident of New York, was awarded custody of the two children. He was ordered to pay child support during the children’s visitation with Horn, their mother, who had moved to California. Id. at 87-88, 98 S.Ct. at 1693-1694. The children moved to California in 1973 and 1976 respectively. Horn initiated suit in California to obtain custody of the children and increase child support payments. Id. at 88, 98 S.Ct. at 1694. Kulko defended on the grounds that the California. court lacked personal jurisdiction over him. Id. The United States Supreme Court agreed:

“The unilateral activity of those who claim some relationship with a nonresident defendant cannot satisfy the requirement of contact with the forum State_ [I]t is essential in each case that there be some act by which the defendant purposefully avails [himjself of the privilege of conducting activities within the forum State.... ”

Id. at 93-94, 98 S.Ct. at 1698 (quoting Hanson v. Denckla, 357 U.S. 235, 253, 78 S.Ct. 1228, 1239, 2 L.Ed.2d 1283 (1958)) (alteration in original). The Court decided that neither (1) Kulko’s temporary presence in California, (2) his consent to allow his children to live in [294]*294California, nor (3) Ms financial benefit in not having to pay certain living expenses for his children constituted “minimum contacts” with Califorma. Id. 436 U.S. at 93-97, 98 S.Ct. at 1697-99. In conclusion, the court held that subjecting Kulko to personal jurisdiction in Califorma would “offend ‘traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.’ ” Id. at 92, 97-98, 98 S.Ct. at 1696-97, 1699-1700 (citing International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 316, 66 S.Ct. 154, 158, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945)).

Puhlman argues that Kulko is applicable to this case. We agree. The Kulko court distinguished the concepts of being forced into court and “purposefully availing” oneself of a court; a court’s assertion of personal jurisdiction is proper only in the latter case. See Kulko, 436 U.S. at 93-94, 98 S.Ct. at 1697-98.

Turner attempts to distinguish Kulko because Puhlman imtiated the proceeding in superior court, thereby “purposefully availing” himself of the Alaska court. The question becomes whether Puhlman, in seeking to enforce the Texas Order in Alaska, “purposefully availed” himself of the Alaska court, thereby subjecting himself to the long-arm jurisdiction of Alaska. TMs is an issue of first impression in Alaska. The Supreme Court of Califorma answered this question in the negative. In Kumar v. Superior Court, 32 Cal.3d 689, 186 Cal.Rptr. 772, 781-82, 652 P.2d 1003, 1012-13 (1982),5 the court held that if a nonresident parent is forced to employ the courts of the forum state to enforce visitation rights pursuant to an out-of-state decree, the nonresident will not be subject to the state’s long-arm jurisdiction. Puhlman argues that he was forced to avail himself of the Alaska court in the enforcement proceeding and should not be subject to personal jurisdiction m a collateral support modification proceeding.

This court is gmded by the principle that due process of law requires “ ‘minimum contacts ... such that the mamtenance of the smt does not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.’ ” Glover, 745 P.2d at 1367 (quotmg Colder v. Jones, 465 U.S. 783

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Puhlman v. Turner
874 P.2d 291 (Alaska Supreme Court, 1994)

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Bluebook (online)
874 P.2d 291, 1994 Alas. LEXIS 50, 1994 WL 221806, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/puhlman-v-turner-alaska-1994.