Swank v. Terex Utilities, Inc.

360 P.3d 586, 274 Or. App. 47, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 1179
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedSeptember 30, 2015
Docket101027; A152465
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 360 P.3d 586 (Swank v. Terex Utilities, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Swank v. Terex Utilities, Inc., 360 P.3d 586, 274 Or. App. 47, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 1179 (Or. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

ARMSTRONG, P. J.

Plaintiff was injured while working for his employer, ES&A Sign and Awning Company (ES&A), when the boom of a crane, along with the basket in which plaintiff was riding, fell due to the failure of the crane’s rotator-bearing assembly. Plaintiff brought an action against defendant Manitex, Inc., a Texas corporation, claiming that Manitex was negligent in several respects in conducting a “field campaign” to address a defect in the crane’s rotator-bearing assembly, which resulted in ES&A failing to properly repair the defect.1 After raising the defense of lack of personal jurisdiction under Oregon’s long-arm rule, ORCP 4, Manitex brought a motion for summary judgment on that issue, which the trial court granted. Because we conclude that the trial court has personal jurisdiction over Manitex under ORCP 4 D based on the field campaign that Manitex conducted in the forums in which the affected cranes were located, including in Oregon, we reverse and remand.

In determining whether an Oregon court has long-arm jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant, we look to ORCP 4.2 State ex rel Circus Circus Reno, Inc. v. Pope, 317 Or 151, 153, 854 P2d 461 (1993). Personal jurisdiction may [50]*50be “general” under ORCP 4 A, “specific” under one of the provisions in ORCP 4 B though K, or “specific” under the “catchall” provision of ORCP 4 L. O’Neil v. Martin, 258 Or App 819, 829, 312 P3d 538 (2013), rev den, 355 Or 381 (2014) (citing Circus Circus, 317 Or at 154-56). Plaintiff had the burden of pleading and proving facts sufficient to establish personal jurisdiction over Manitex. See, e.g., Nike USA, Inc. v. Pro Sports Wear, Inc., 208 Or App 531, 533, 145 P3d 321 (2006). The record on Manitex’s motion for summary judgment includes the parties’ pleadings and the evidence that the parties submitted to the trial court. In reviewing a trial court’s dismissal of a complaint against a defendant for lack of personal jurisdiction, “we construe the pleadings and affidavits liberally in favor of jurisdiction.” Id. at 536. Once the historical jurisdictional facts are established, or when, as here, the historical facts are undisputed, we review for legal error the trial court’s determination whether those facts establish personal jurisdiction over the defendant. Id. The undisputed jurisdictional facts in the record in this case are as follows.

Manitex is a Texas corporation with its principal place of business in Texas. Manitex has never had an office in Oregon, nor had it owned any property in Oregon before plaintiff sustained his injury in May 2008. Manitex has stated in promotional materials that its “Manitex subsidiary manufactures and markets a comprehensive line of boom trucks and sign cranes through a national and international dealership network.” Since March 2011, Coast Crane, which is located in Oregon, has been Manitex’s dealer for Oregon. Before that time, Manitex did not have a dealer for Oregon, and an Oregon customer would have been directed to Manitex’s dealers in Washington or California. Manitex maintains a website that includes a “locate a dealer” page [51]*51that provides contact information for dealers servicing a state, including Oregon, or for the nearest dealer if there is not a designated dealer for the state.

In 2008, Manitex had three invoices and one credit memorandum related to Oregon, with total sales of $6,248. In 2009, Manitex had two Oregon transactions totaling $918. In 2010, there were 51 transactions totaling $32,911. One of Manitex’s 2010 sales was to ES&A and was directly shipped to ES&A. Manitex’s warranty log indicated that, as of June 2011, 14 of its cranes were owned and located in Oregon; however, the owners of those cranes had not purchased the cranes directly from Manitex. Terex Utilities, Inc.,3 a company that performed maintenance and repair work on ES&A’s crane, had in the past ordered parts from Manitex, either through Manitex’s Oregon dealer or directly from Manitex.

The crane at issue in this case — a Phoenix SkyHoist SX57 — was manufactured by Phoenix Corporation. ES&A had purchased the crane from a company named SignArt. SignArt is located in Michigan, but it had a branch office in Portland, Oregon, where it used the crane. When SignArt decided to close its Portland office, it sold its Oregon crane to ES&A.

In 2003, Manitex Skycrane, LLC, a subsidiary of Manitex, purchased certain assets of Phoenix, including the SX57 crane line. After purchasing those assets, Manitex learned of incidents in which SX57 cranes were “coming undecked” — that is, the joint of the pedestal to the turret would come apart and cause an uncontrolled fall. Manitex then undertook a “field campaign” to identify the location of the affected cranes and to require current owners to make “mandatory” inspections of the rotation bolts.

First, Manitex used data from Phoenix to create an initial registry of owners of the SX57 cranes potentially affected by the identified defect. Then, in November 2003, Manitex sent out a first advisory bulletin directed to “[a]ll SX57 Owners with units built before January 1999.” [52]*52The bulletin told owners that they “must” inspect the rotation bolts on their crane as instructed in the attached “SX57 Rotation Bearing Fastener Inspection Document,” return the attached “Rotation Bolt Inspection Report” to Manitex, and, if any bolts were broken or missing, take the crane out of service and contact Manitex. The bulletin further instructed, “If you have sold this unit you must complete Section II and forward owner information on the ‘Rotation Bolt Inspection Report.’” Manitex’s former general manager and president, Rolston, testified that the purpose of the report was to obtain owner information if the crane had been sold and to instruct owners to replace missing bolts, if any. If the returned inspection report showed no issues, then Manitex did not follow up because the original bulletin advised regular inspection.

About a year and one half later, in March 2005, Manitex sent a second advisory bulletin to the same registry of owners, after it had designed a retrofit of the pedestal base for the SX57 crane. That bulletin was also addressed to “ALL SX57 OWNERS WITH UNITS BUILT BEFORE JANUARY 1999” and advised, in part, as follows:

“Manitex SkyCrane recently became aware of problems with the rotation bolts on some Phoenix SkyHoist SX57 units. In November of 2003, Manitex SkyCrane released Advisory Bulletin #357 to all known purchasers of Phoenix SkyHoist SX57 units before January 1999. The Advisory was intended to locate and identify units then in service that may have loose or missing rotation bearing bolts. * * *
“Manitex SkyCrane is doing everything it can to locate all affected units. To that end, we have enclosed a second copy of the November 2003 Advisory #357, the Rotation Bearing Fastener Inspection Procedure and the Rotation Bolt Inspection Form. This gives everyone an additional opportunity to inspect and/or report the condition and current location of their units.
* * * *
“Manitex SkyCrane has developed a series of Bearing Replacement Kits and Pedestal Retrofit Kits. The kit part numbers will vary depending on the specific design of the unit. In order to identify the appropriate kits for vour unit, please submit the attached worksheet [53]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
360 P.3d 586, 274 Or. App. 47, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 1179, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/swank-v-terex-utilities-inc-orctapp-2015.