Wheeler v. Teufel

443 N.W.2d 555, 1989 Minn. App. LEXIS 894, 1989 WL 87338
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedAugust 8, 1989
DocketC8-89-291
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 443 N.W.2d 555 (Wheeler v. Teufel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wheeler v. Teufel, 443 N.W.2d 555, 1989 Minn. App. LEXIS 894, 1989 WL 87338 (Mich. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

FOLEY, Judge.

This appeal arises out of a defamation action commenced by respondent Frank A. Wheeler, Jr., alleging that appellant Dennis Teufel, an Arizona resident, made false and defamatory statements about him by telephone from Arizona to individuals in Minnesota. Teufel appeals from the trial court’s order denying his motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. We reverse.

FACTS

Teufel is a self-employed businessman who, until recently, was a long-time resident of Minnesota. He and his family moved to Arizona in 1988 and presently reside there.

Wheeler is a long-time Minnesota resident who currently resides in Arizona. Wheeler is a builder who arranges for and manages the construction of residences on a contract basis.

Teufel and Wheeler entered into a contract in February 1988 wherein Wheeler was to arrange for, manage and oversee the cpnstruction of a residence for the Teu-fel family in Arizona. When construction was about half completed, a conflict between the two men arose, their relationship deteriorated, and Wheeler ceased working on Teufel’s house.

In June or July of 1988, Teufel, while in Arizona, allegedly made numerous defamatory statements about Wheeler during telephone conversations with individuals in Minnesota, including Teufel’s long-time friend, and both the sister and ex-husband of Wheeler’s fiancee.

Wheeler commenced a defamation action against Teufel in Minnesota. The trial court asserted personal jurisdiction over Teufel under Minnesota’s long-arm statute and denied his motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.

ISSUE

Did Teufel commit an “act in Minnesota causing injury,” subjecting him to personal jurisdiction in Minnesota within the meaning of Minn.Stat. § 543.19 (1988), when he allegedly made defamatory statements about Wheeler by telephone from Arizona to Minnesota residents?

ANALYSIS

We first note that orders granting or denying pretrial motions for lack of jurisdiction are constitutionally appealable as a matter of right. In re State & Regents Building Asbestos Cases, 435 N.W.2d 521, 522 (Minn.1989).

Teufel contends that his utterance of allegedly defamatory statements in the course of telephone communications between him in Arizona and persons in Minnesota is not sufficient to establish personal jurisdiction over him in Minnesota. He argues that Minnesota’s long-arm stat *557 ute cannot reach him because he did not commit an act in this state and the statute expressly precludes jurisdiction for a defamation action when the act occurs outside the state. We agree.

In Minnesota, long-arm jurisdiction may be asserted over a nonresident defendant only after two requirements are met. First, the criteria of Minnesota’s long-arm statute, Minn.Stat. § 543.19, must be satisfied. Second, plaintiff must show that sufficient “minimum contacts” exist between the state and defendant so that due process will not be offended by the assertion of jurisdiction. Howells v. McKibben, 281 N.W.2d 154, 155-56 (Minn.1979); Brown County Family Service Center v. Miner, 419 N.W.2d 117, 118-19 (Minn.Ct.App.1988).

Under the relevant provisions of Minn. Stat. § 543.19, subd. 1, a court may exercise jurisdiction over any nonresident individual who:

(c) Commits any act in Minnesota causing injury or property damage, or
(d) Commits any act outside Minnesota causing injury or property damage in Minnesota, subject to the following exceptions when no jurisdiction shall be found:
(1) Minnesota has no substantial interest in providing a forum; or
(2) the burden placed on the defendant by being brought under the state’s jurisdiction would violate fairness and substantial justice; or
(3) the cause of action lies in defamation or privacy.

Minn.Stat. § 543.19, subd. 1.

In an effort to avoid constitutional due process problems, Minnesota separates the “act” from the “injury” in Minn.Stat. § 543.19, subd. 1(c) and requires that both occur in the state. The language in this clause is more restrictive than that found in long-arm statutes of other states where jurisdiction may be asserted upon the “commission of a tortious act” within the state, or upon the commission of a tort “in whole or in part” in the state. See Brown v. Flowers Industries, Inc., 688 F.2d 328 (5th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1023, 103 S.Ct. 1275, 75 L.Ed.2d 496 (1983); Carida v. Holy Cross Hospital, Inc., 424 So.2d 849 (Fla.App.1982); Norton v. Local Loan, 251 N.W.2d 520 (Iowa 1977); State ex rel. Advanced Dictating Supply, Inc. v. Dale, 269 Or. 242, 524 P.2d 1404 (1974).

Courts construing statutory language and factual situations which are similar to the present case have concluded that although a defamatory statement was received in the state, the significant causal act occurred outside the state where the defamatory information was spoken or mailed. See D.C.Code Ann. § 13-423(a)(3) (1981); see also Tavoulareas v. Comnas, 720 F.2d 192 (D.C.Cir.1983); Margoles v. Johns, 483 F.2d 1212 (D.C.Cir.1973). These courts have refused to find that a nonresident defendant commits an act in the District upon causing a communication to be published there. Thus, it has been consistently held that defamatory telephone calls into the District are not acts within the District upon which personal jurisdiction can be asserted over the caller. See Tavoulareas, 720 F.2d at 194; Margoles, 483 F.2d at 1217-18.

Similarly, we cannot construe our Minnesota statute in such a way so as to declare that an “act” occurs wherever the resulting “injury” takes place. At a minimum, two actions are required to complete the tort of slander — one person must act by speaking the defamatory words, while another must act by hearing them, to the injury of a third party. We are convinced in this case that Teufel’s act of uttering the alleged defamatory statements occurred in Arizona, not Minnesota.

In Minnesota, telephone conversations and mail exchanges alone have generally not been found sufficient for the assertion of personal jurisdiction. Norval Industries, Inc. v. Superior Companies, Inc., 515 F.Supp. 895, 898 (D.Minn.1981).

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443 N.W.2d 555, 1989 Minn. App. LEXIS 894, 1989 WL 87338, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wheeler-v-teufel-minnctapp-1989.