TravelJungle v. American Airlines, Inc.

212 S.W.3d 841, 2006 Tex. App. LEXIS 10634, 2006 WL 3627202
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided December 14, 2006·No. 2-06-178-CV·Published·Cited by 37 cases

Opinion

OPINION

TERRIE LIVINGSTON, Justice.

Introduction

This is an accelerated interlocutory appeal from the trial court’s order denying appellant TravelJungle’s special appearance. See Tex. Civ. PRAC. & Rem.Code Ann. § 51.014(a)(7) (Vernon Supp.2006). In one issue, TravelJungle challenges the trial court’s determination that it had sufficient minimum contacts with the State of Texas that would enable Texas to assert personal jurisdiction over it. Because TravelJungle did not meet its burden of proof, under the standard of review articulated by the Texas Supreme Court, to disprove all possible bases of jurisdiction, we affirm the trial court’s order.

*844 Background Facts

TravelJungle operates a website that gathers hotel, car rental, and airline flight schedules and fare information in response to internet requests from consumers. With regard to airline information, Travel-Jungle uses special software to gather the flight and fare information from airlines’ websites and from other travel websites, such as Expedia.com and Travelocity.com. Once it obtains that information, it “assimilates and sorts the data it obtains from airline and reservation sites and presents it to the requestor.” Users of TravelJun-gle’s website search it for flight information by first choosing a departure and arrival city. The website then provides the user with several fares and schedules to choose from, which the user can then select to make reservations through Tra-velJungle’s website.

TravelJungle is registered in the United Kingdom and has its principal places of business in Germany and Bulgaria. Its servers and employees are located in Germany and Bulgaria, and it has no employees in the U.S. If a user of the website decides to book one of the flights presented by TravelJungle in response to the user’s request, a TravelJungle representative in Bulgaria books the flight with the organization that it got the information from via that organization’s website. According to TravelJungle, between February 2003 and June 2004, TravelJungle included appellee American Airlines, Inc.’s website, AA.com, in its search for flight schedule and fare information if American provided services between the departure and arrival cities listed in a TravelJungle user’s search. TravelJungle also listed AA.eom on its website as one of the sites it searched to provide this information and displayed a copy of the American logo on its website.

In 2004, American sued TravelJungle and several other similar website operators for breach of AA.eom’s Use Agreement, which prohibits users from using the information on the website for “commercial” purposes; tortious interference with American’s contracts with authorized internet distributors of American’s fare and scheduling data; tortious interference with prospective business relations, i.e., consumers who could have booked flights directly on AA.com; 1 trespass of AAeom’s servers; violation of the Texas computer crimes statute; 2 civil conspiracy; common law trademark infringement; violation of the Texas anti-dilution act; 3 and misappropriation. After learning that American had sued it, TravelJungle discontinued accessing AA.com and took American’s logo off its website. It also entered a special appearance challenging the trial court’s personal jurisdiction over it. The trial court denied the special appearance after an evidentiary hearing but declined , to file findings of fact and conclusions of law.

*845 Issue on Appeal

In a single issue on appeal, TravelJungle contends that the trial court abused its discretion by denying the special appearance because it negated all possible bases of jurisdiction as a matter of law. American contends that TravelJungle did not meet its burden of proof under the standard of review articulated by the Texas Supreme Court.

Standard of Review

Whether a trial court has personal jurisdiction over a defendant is a question of law. BMC Software Belg., N.V. v. Marchand, 83 S.W.3d 789, 793 (Tex.2002); SITQ, E. U., Inc. v. Reata Rests., Inc., 111 S.W.3d 638, 644 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2003, pet. denied). The plaintiff bears the initial burden of pleading sufficient allegations to bring a nonresident defendant within the provisions of the long-arm statute. BMC Software, 83 S.W.3d at 793; Reata, 111 S.W.3d at 644. A defendant challenging a Texas court’s personal jurisdiction over it must negate all jurisdictional bases. BMC Software, 83 S.W.3d at 793; Reata, 111 S.W.3d at 644. We review all of the evidence in making this determination. Reata, 111 S.W.3d at 645; Michel v. Rocket Eng’g Corp., 45 S.W.3d 658, 667 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2001, no pet.).

When, as here, a trial court does not issue findings of fact and conclusions of law with its special appearance ruling, we imply all facts necessary to support the judgment. BMC Software, 83 S.W.3d at 794; Reata, 111 S.W.3d at 645. Because here the appellate record includes both the reporter’s and clerk’s records, however, these implied findings are not conclusive. BMC Software, 83 S.W.3d at 795; Reata, 111 S.W.3d at 645. We may review the trial court’s resolution of disputed fact issues for legal and factual sufficiency under the same standards of review that we apply in reviewing a jury’s or trial court’s findings of fact at trial. Michel, 45 S.W.3d at 668.

Personal Jurisdiction

A Texas court may assert personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant only if the requirements of due process under the Fourteenth Amendment and the Texas long-arm statute are satisfied. U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1; Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. §§ 17.041-.045 (Vernon 1997 & Supp.2006); Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia, S.A. v. Hall, 466 U.S. 408, 413-14, 104 S.Ct. 1868, 1871-72, 80 L.Ed.2d 404 (1984); CSR Ltd. v. Link, 925 S.W.2d 591, 594 (Tex.1996) (orig. proceeding); Michel, 45 S.W.3d at 668.

Long-arm Statute

The Texas long-arm statute governs Texas courts’ exercise of jurisdiction over nonresident defendants. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code Ann. §§ 17.041-.045; BMC Software, 83 S.W.3d at 795; Reata, 111 S.W.3d at 645. That statute permits Texas courts to exercise jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant who “does business” in Texas. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code Ann. § 17.042; BMC Software, 83 S.W.3d at 795; Reata, 111 S.W.3d at 645.

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TravelJungle v. American Airlines, Inc., 212 S.W.3d 841, 2006 Tex. App. LEXIS 10634, 2006 WL 3627202 (Tex. Ct. App. 2006).

212 S.W.3d 841 (TravelJungle v. American Airlines, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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