Ureneck v. Xu Yingnong

2002 Mass. App. Div. 141, 2002 Mass. App. Div. LEXIS 56
CourtMassachusetts District Court, Appellate Division
DecidedAugust 6, 2002
StatusPublished

This text of 2002 Mass. App. Div. 141 (Ureneck v. Xu Yingnong) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts District Court, Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ureneck v. Xu Yingnong, 2002 Mass. App. Div. 141, 2002 Mass. App. Div. LEXIS 56 (Mass. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

Winslow, J.

The plaintiff, Joseph Ureneck as assignee of Rainbow Marriage International Marriage Service Incorporated (“Rainbow”), appeals from a dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction over the defendant, Xu Yingnong (“Ms. Xu”), a California resident Rainbow seeks to collect contract damages under a marriage brokerage agreement as a result of Ms. Xu’s marriage to a man to whom she was introduced by Rainbow. For the reasons stated below, we affirm dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction.

Based on the contract and undisputed facts of the parties’ affidavits, the district court justice could have considered the following facts in support of dismissal: Rainbow, a Massachusetts corporation with offices in Massachusetts and Beijing, China, contracted with Ms. Xu in China to provide matchmaking services to prospective marriage partners. At the time of the execution of the contract and at all times relevant to her receipt of services from Rainbow, Ms. Xu was a resident of China. The agreement identified Rainbow as “a US company” but did not include any mention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Rainbow’s representative informed Ms. Xu at the time she signed the agreement that Rainbow was a Massachusetts corporation with only a Massachusetts office in the United States and that Rainbow would use its resources in Massachusetts to provide services to her. Ms. Xu agreed to pay an initial registration fee as well as other charges. Significantly, Ms. Xu agreed to pay $8,500 in the event of her marriage to a person introduced by Rainbow in addition to the other fees.1 The agreement also provided that

settlement of any disputes regarding this agreement shall be settled in that country and state in which (1) client holds legal residency and country in which client’s spouse holds nationality or (2) in that country in which clients spouse holds nationality....

Rainbow performed introduction services for Ms. Xu for at least twenty months, culminating in her marriage to a man from California Ms. Xu left China and moved to California where she now resides. Rainbow seeks to collect the $8,500 [142]*142fee arising from Ms. Xu's marriage to the man from California. Both Ms. Xu and Rainbow have limited financial resources which would make litigation outside the state of their residence financially impracticable.

“Generally, a claim of personal jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant presents a two-fold inquiry: (1) is the assertion of jurisdiction authorized by [the long-arm] statute, and (2) if authorized, is the exercise of jurisdiction under State law consistent with basic due process requirements mandated by the United States Constitution?” Good Hope Indus., Inc. v. Ryder Scott Co., 378 Mass. 1, 5-6 (1979). “Jurisdiction is permissible only when both questions draw affirmative responses.” Good Hope Indus., 378 Mass. at 6. “[Ijnquiries into whether the exercise of personal jurisdiction is permissible in a particular case are sensitive to the facts of each case. Facing a motion to dismiss under Mass. R. Civ. P., Rule 12(b) (2), the plaintiffs bear the burden of establishing sufficient facts on which to predicate jurisdiction over the defendant” Good Hope Indus., Inc. v. Ryder Scott Co., 378 Mass. 1, 2 (1979) [internal citations omitted]. “General Laws c. 223A, §3, sets out a list of specific instances in which a Massachusetts court may acquire personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant Jurisdiction is conferred only “when some basis for jurisdiction enumerated in the statute has been established.’ Good Hope Indus., Inc., 378 Mass. at 6. Carlson Corp. v. University of Vt., 380 Mass. 102, 105 (1980). If the literal requirements of the statute are satisfied, it álso must be established that ‘the exerdse of jurisdiction under State law [is] consistent with basic due process requirements mandated by the United States Constitution.’ Good Hope Indus., Inc., 378 Mass. at 5-6.” Tatro v. Manor Care, Inc., 416 Mass. 763, 767 (1994). Each will be addressed in turn below.

G.L.c. 223A, §3: Long-Arm Statute

The Massachusetts long-arm statute provides in relevant part that a “court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a person, who acts directly or by an agent, as to a cause of action in law or equity arising from that person’s (a) transacting any business in the commonwealth....” G.L.c. 223A §3. “For jurisdiction to exist under §3(a), the facts must satisfy two requirements — the defendant must have transacted business in Massachusetts, and the plaintiff’s claim must have arisen from the transaction of business by the defendant The ‘transacting any business’ clause [in §3] has been construed broadly. Although an isolated (and minor) transaction with a Massachusetts resident may be insufficient, generally the purposeful and successful solicitation of business from residents of the Commonwealth, by a defendant or its agent, will suffice to satisfy this requirement” Tatro v. Manor Care, Inc., 416 Mass. 763, 767 (1994) [internal citations omitted]. “[A] claim arises from a defendant’s transaction of business in the forum State if the claim was made possible by, or lies in the wake of, the transaction of business in the forum State.” Tatro, 416 Mass. at 771, citing Lanier v. Am. Bd. of Endodontics, 843 F.2d 901, 909 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 926 (1988), interpreting the Michigan long-arm statute, and “applies to any purposeful acts by an individual, whether personal, private, or commercial.” Ross v. Ross, 371 Mass. 439, 441 (1976).

Constitutional limitations

“The Due Process Clause protects an individual’s liberty interest in not being subject to the binding judgments of a forum with which he has established no meaningful ‘contacts, ties, or relations.’ International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 319 (1945). By requiring that individuals have ‘fair warning that a particular activity may subject them to the jurisdiction of a foreign sovereign,’ Shaffer v. Heitner, 433 U.S. 186, 218 (1977) (Stevens, J., concurring in judgment), the Due Process Clause ‘gives a degree of predictability to the legal system that allows potential defendants to structure their primary conduct with some minimum assurance as to where that conduct will and will not render them liable to suit,’ [143]*143World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286, 297 (1980).” Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 471-472 (1985). And see Heins v. Wilhelm Loh Wetzlar Optical Machinery GmbH & Co. KG., 26 Mass. App. Ct. 14, 21 (1988).

“The dual constitutional elements are ‘minimum contacts’ and ‘reasonableness.’” The former is justified thus in World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286, 291-292 (1980):

[MJinimum contacts...

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Bluebook (online)
2002 Mass. App. Div. 141, 2002 Mass. App. Div. LEXIS 56, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ureneck-v-xu-yingnong-massdistctapp-2002.