Wells v. English Electrical, Ltd.

60 F.R.D. 573, 18 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 667, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12840
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Louisiana
DecidedJuly 5, 1973
DocketCiv. A. No. 17274
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 60 F.R.D. 573 (Wells v. English Electrical, Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wells v. English Electrical, Ltd., 60 F.R.D. 573, 18 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 667, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12840 (W.D. La. 1973).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

PUTNAM, District Judge.

Plaintiff was allegedly injured on October 20, 1971, when a small diesel engine malfunctioned. He seeks damages from, among others, the manufacturer, English Electric Diesels, Limited (Norman Engine Division), a corporation organized under the laws of England. Jurisdiction is founded upon diversity. The amount in controversy allegedly exceeds $10,000.00. Presently before this court is a motion on behalf of English Electric Diesels, Limited, to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction over the person, or, in lieu thereof, to quash the return of service of summons on grounds that defendant has not been properly served with process. We deny defendants’ motions.

The issue before this court is whether or not there has been a valid service of process by which this Court has obtained jurisdiction over the person of the defendant. F.R.Civ.P. Rules 4(d)(7) and 4(e), 28 U.S.C., permit service upon a nonresident corporation in the manner prescribed by the law of the state in which the district court is held. Opponents of the motion to dismiss assert that this Court has obtained jurisdiction over the defendant under Louisiana’s “longarm” statute. LSA-R.S. 13:3201 et seq; thus, the inquiry of this Court is whether the defendant has brought itself within the scope of this statute and whether or not the application of the statute conforms to due process requirements.

The ■ defendant, English Electric Diesels, Limited, is a foreign corporation organized under the laws of England. It employs no agents or personnel in Louisiana. It owns no property in Louisiana, it does not maintain an office in this state, it is not authorized to do business in this state, and has not in any manner appointed an agent for service of process in Louisiana. The defendant has not contracted to supply services or things in this state nor has it caused an injury by act or omission in this state. Thus, the only statutory basis for in personam jurisdiction is Louisiana’s “longarm” statute, LSA-R.S. 13:3201, which provides in pertinent part:

“A court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident, who acts directly or by an agent, as to a cause of action arising from the nonresident’s
* -* -» * * *
(d) causing injury or damage in this state by an offense or quasi offense committed through an act or omission outside of this state if he regularly does or solicits business, or engages in any other persistent course of conduct, or derives substantial revenue from goods used or consumed or services rendered, in this state; or

This statute has recently been construed in several products liability eases. This Court finds the statute applicable to the facts and circumstances of this case.

[575]*575In Boykin v. A. B. Lindenkranar, 252 So.2d 467 (La.App. 4th Cir. 1971), the court upheld the exercise of jurisdiction in personam over a Swedish crane manufacturer. In that case the defendant manufactured large building cranes and sold them in Sweden to a United States corporation which had the exclusive right to purchase the defendant’s cranes and parts for export to the United States. Decedent’s death occurred while he was working on one of these cranes. The United States corporation, an independent intermediary, had resold numerous cranes in Louisiana. The court said:

“It appears to us that a manufacturer, whose products reach Louisiana in quantity that may reasonably be said to be substantial, is somehow successfully soliciting and doing business in Louisiana, for purposes of determining whether under R.S. 13:3201(d) he subjects himself to Louisiana’s jurisdiction over a tort claim arising out of allegedly defective manufacture of his product outside of Louisiana.
* * * * ' * *
“In our opinion the intended breadth of R.S. 13:3201(d), for purposes of conferring jurisdiction in manufacturer’s products liability cases, is not limited by traditional notions of contract privity; nor, for such purposes, is ‘independent contractor’ as opposed to ‘agent’ a defense to jurisdiction. These concepts have application where the cause of action arises out of a contract with, or the actions of, the independent contractor, for which the manufacturer would not even have liability. But where the independent contractor’s only relation to the cause of action and to the jurisdiction is that it has served as the regular means of placing the manufacturer’s products within the jurisdiction, it appears to us unreasonable to conclude that the manufacturer does not do business in the jurisdiction (for products liability purposes) because it does not directly sell its products in the jurisdiction.
“The manufacturer here is aware that the independent intermediary Heede sells its cranes for use in the United States. The only reasonable conclusion is that the manufacturer intends that its cranes shall be sold for use in the United States, including every state in which the independent intermediary’s efforts may produce the desired results. Relator does not manufacture cranes to sell them to a collector. It must be held to know and intend the placement and use of its cranes in the United States, including Louisiana, and by whatever arrangement it causes its cranes to be here placed and used it is accomplishing its business purposes and here doing business.” Id., 252 So.2d 467, 470.

In Fisher v. Albany Machine and Supply Co., 261 La. 747, 260 So.2d 691 (1972), a products liability case, the Supreme Court of Louisiana found jurisdiction over an Oregon manufacturer of sawmill equipment under LSA-R.S. 13:3201(d). The action was brought by a sawmill employee who was injured when a stick of wood flew from a wood trimmer and hit him in the head. In this case the defendant manufacturer had only one wood trimmer in Louisiana and this one was sold to the plaintiff’s employer, the sale being transacted through an out-of-state broker, f.o.b. Albany, Oregon. The court said:.

“. . . Albany has had ‘contracts’ with this State sufficient to warrant the exercise of our jurisdiction over it. Under our statute, there was ‘an offense or quasi offense committed through an act or omission outside of this state’ (possibly the improper manufacture of the trimmer). Albany derived ‘substantial revenue from goods used or consumed or services rendered, in this state, within the clear meaning of our ‘long arm’ statute sufficient to subject it to the jurisdiction of our courts. $12,958.00 is [576]*576substantial revenue.” Id., 261 La. 747, 260 So.2d 691, 694.

Though there was another basis for jurisdiction the court also held that the defendant had derived substantial revenue from goods used in this state.

More recently, in the case of Moore v. Central Louisiana Electric Co., Inc., La. 273 So.2d 284 (1973), the state Supreme Court upheld the exercise of jurisdiction as to Sterling Models, a Pennsylvania entity which manufactures model airplanes, one of which was instrumental in the electrocution death of a young boy. The court held that Sterling was amenable to service, under LSA-R.S. 13:3201 (d) on grounds that it regularly did business in the state of Louisiana, and regularly engaged in a persistent course of conduct in this state. The court found that the defendant sold products directly to a Louisiana distributor and to consumers and that it regularly advertised in national magazines.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Dotterweich v. Yamaha International Corp.
416 F. Supp. 542 (D. Minnesota, 1976)
Hitt v. Nissan Motor Company, Ltd.
399 F. Supp. 838 (S.D. Florida, 1975)
Liddell v. Hanover Insurance Company
289 So. 2d 299 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 F.R.D. 573, 18 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 667, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12840, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wells-v-english-electrical-ltd-lawd-1973.