Read v. Moe

899 F. Supp. 2d 1024, 2012 WL 4467545, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139621
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedSeptember 27, 2012
DocketCase No. C10-1010RAJ
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 899 F. Supp. 2d 1024 (Read v. Moe) 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
Read v. Moe, 899 F. Supp. 2d 1024, 2012 WL 4467545, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139621 (W.D. Wash. 2012).

Opinion

ORDER

RICHARD A. JONES, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This matter comes before the court on two motions to dismiss from Defendant Frekhaug Stal AS, as well as Plaintiffs two motions to compel discovery related to the motions to dismiss. Dkt. ##45, 47, 51, 68. Although the parties requested oral argument, oral argument is unnecessary in light of the court’s disposition today. For the reasons stated below, the court DENIES Frekhaug Stal’s motions to dismiss (Dkt. ## 45, 47) and GRANTS Plaintiffs motions to compel (Dkt. ## 51, 68). This order concludes with instructions for the parties to complete discovery on personal jurisdiction and to submit additional briefing. The court directs the clerk to create a motion calendar for November 16, 2012, to address the parties’ new submissions.

II. BACKGROUND

In August 2007, a “snap hook” 1 aboard the commercial fishing vessel F/V TONGASS LADY broke, causing the portion still attached to a line to swing free and strike Plaintiff C.B. in the face, severely injuring her. At the time, the TONGASS LADY was in navigable waters off the coast of Alaska. Plaintiff was a minor.

Plaintiff, through her guardian ad litem, filed this suit in June 2010. She named as Defendants Greg Moe, who is the owner of the TONGASS LADY, the vessel itself, and Frekhaug Stal, the Norwegian company who manufactured the snap hook. She invoked the court’s admiralty jurisdiction, asserting no claims under the law of any state. Not long thereafter, Mr. Moe filed an answer and a cross-claim against Frekhaug Stal and a separate exoneration of liability action (In re Moe, No. 10-1287RAJ), which was also assigned to this court. In August 2010, the court stayed this case in light of the exoneration of liability action. No. 10-1287RAJ (Dkt. # 4). Frekhaug Stal was not a party in the exoneration action. Perhaps unaware of the stay, Frekhaug Stal filed a September 2010 motion in this case to extend its deadline for responding to Plaintiffs complaint. Frekhaug Stal explained that it wanted an extension “to respond to or answer the complaint, and to file any motion relating to the Complaint,” “expressly preserve[d] any objections to venue, process and jurisdiction,” and informed the court that Plaintiff did not oppose its motion. Dkt. # 24. Plaintiff raised no objection, and the court granted an extension until October 4, 2010. On that date, Frekhaug Stal filed a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. The court terminated that motion, noting that Frekhaug Stal could renew it, if necessary, when the court lifted the stay. The parties in the exoneration of liability action reached a settlement that the court approved in December 2011. No. 10-1287RAJ (Dkt. # 25). The court lifted the stay in this case on February 6, 2012. Dkt. # 44. Frekhaug Stal renewed its motion to dismiss three weeks later.

[1027]*1027Frekhaug Stal is a Norwegian company. Although there is no dispute that many of its fishing products are sold in the United States, Frekhaug Stal is tight-lipped about its distribution network. The only evidence it offered is a declaration from an employee named John Villy Sandvik. Mr. Sandvik avers that in the last 20 years, Frekhaug Stal has had no Washington business license, no Washington registered agent, no Washington phone numbers, and no Washington mailing addresses. He states that Frekhaug Stal has not targeted advertising at Washington in more than 20 years. He declares that Frekhaug Stal has not, for at least seven years, sold products to Washingtonians, contracted with Washingtonians, or distributed products in Washington. He also avers that Frekhaug Stal “currently] does not have an agent or distribution network in the United States.”

Shortly after the court lifted the stay, Plaintiff served two sets of interrogatories and requests for production on Frekhaug Stal, inquiring specifically about its activities in Washington and Alaska and more broadly about its activities in the United States. Frekhaug Stal responded to the discovery requests, but imposed its own limitations. It refused to provide any information about activities prior to June 9, 2007, and it refused to provide any information about its activities in any state except Washington.

Despite Frekhaug Stabs refusal to provide information, Plaintiff has acquired some evidence of Frekhaug Stabs presence (or at least its products’ presence) in the United States. The snap hook that broke bore a “Boss” brand. Frekhaug Stal makes Boss products. Boss hooks are available at outlets in the United States, including commercial fishing supply stores in western Washington. The master of the TONGASS LADY bought the snap hook that broke at the Alaskan supply outlet of the seafood company to which it delivered fish. The seafood company purchased the hook from Redden Marine, a supplier in Bellingham, Washington. Euro Products, a distributor with an office and warehouse in Seattle, also sells BOSS products. Euro Products and at least two other Seattle-based businesses sell BOSS products through their catalogs and websites. When one of Plaintiffs agents visited Euro Products’ Seattle office, he obtained a page from Frekhaug Stabs supply catalog. That page declared that Frekhaug Stabs “sales representatives cover the whole world,” but listed only Norwegian phone numbers and addresses. Plaintiffs evidence also shows that in 2010, Frekhaug Stal maintained an English-language website at www.frekhaugstal.com. This year, when Plaintiffs agents revisited the website, it had been transformed into a Norwegian-language website. The current website declares that about 35% of Frekhaug Stabs business is the manufacture of Boss products and that Frekhaug Stal exports about half of its products. The website lists Norwegian phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses. According to Plaintiff, the website provided essentially the same information when it was still in English. No one suggests that any version of the website permitted direct purchases from Frekhaug Stal.

Plaintiff also subpoenaed several entities who sell Boss products in the United States, including Euro Products. Several of those entities sell Boss products directly to end users. Each of them explains that it has no direct relationship with Frekhaug Stal, and that it buys its Frekhaug Stal products from a distributor. Those distributors, in turn, also explain that they have no direct relationship with Frekhaug Stal, and that they buy their Boss products from “Blue Line,” a Danish company. In short, Plaintiff has so far acquired no evidence that Frekhaug Stal has any direct [1028]*1028relationship with anyone in the United States. Plaintiff has, however, attempted to explore the relationship between Blue Line and its affiliated entities and Frekhaug Stal. It propounded a third set of discovery requests to Frekhaug Stal to explore that relationship. Although no party has put Frekhaug Stal’s responses in the record, no one disputes that Frekhaug Stal refused to provide complete responses.2

Now before the court are Frekhaug Stal’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction3 and two motions from Plaintiff to compel responses to her discovery requests. For reasons the court now explains, it denies the motions to dismiss without deciding whether Frekhaug Stal is subject to personal jurisdiction in this court. The court cannot make a final decision until Plaintiff completes jurisdictional discovery, a process that the court will aid by granting Plaintiffs motions to compel.

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Bluebook (online)
899 F. Supp. 2d 1024, 2012 WL 4467545, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139621, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/read-v-moe-wawd-2012.