Noboa v. Barceló Corporación Empresarial, SA, 15–2001.
| Decision Date | 04 February 2016 |
| Docket Number | No. 15–2001.,15–2001. |
| Citation | 812 F.3d 571 |
| Parties | Alejandro NOBOA and Martha Noboa, individually and as executors of the Estate of Vanessa Noboa, Plaintiffs–Appellants, v. BARCELÓ CORPORACIÓN EMPRESARIAL, SA, and Rancho Carisuva S de RL de CV, Defendants–Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
812 F.3d 571
Alejandro NOBOA and Martha Noboa, individually and as executors of the Estate of Vanessa Noboa, Plaintiffs–Appellants,
v.
BARCELÓ CORPORACIÓN EMPRESARIAL, SA, and Rancho Carisuva S de RL de CV, Defendants–Appellees.
No. 15–2001.
United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.
Argued Jan. 19, 2016.
Decided Feb. 4, 2016.
Ross S. Carponelli, Attorney, Carponelli & Buttitta, LLC, Barrington, IL, for Plaintiffs–Appellants.
Cinthia Granados Motley, Attorney, Sedgwick LLP, John W. Patton, Jr., Attorney, Patton & Ryan, Chicago, IL, for Defendants–Appellees.
Before EASTERBROOK, ROVNER, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.
EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge.
While living in Illinois, Vanessa Noboa used the Orbitz website to book and pay for a stay at the Barceló Los Cabos Palace Deluxe in Mexico. After arriving at the hotel, Noboa signed up in its lobby for an ecotour operated by Rancho Carisuva away from the hotel's premises. During that tour, the all-terrain vehicle that Noboa was riding overturned, and she died from her injuries. This suit, under the international diversity jurisdiction of 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(2), seeks damages from Rancho Carisuva plus Barceló Corporación Empresarial, a Spanish corporation. The complaint alleges that Barceló owned and operated the hotel; Barceló denies this and maintains that it has no ownership interest, direct or indirect, in the Barceló Los Cabos Palace Deluxe (now known as Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos). The district court did not decide whether Barceló Corporación Empresarial has any connection to the hotel Noboa booked—or whether either defendant is culpable in her death—because it concluded that neither defendant is subject to personal jurisdiction in Illinois.
Neither defendant conducts business in Illinois, and the executors of Noboa's estate (the plaintiffs in this suit) concede that neither defendant is subject to the state's general jurisdiction. (In diversity suits, state law provides the basis of personal jurisdiction, and Illinois exercises jurisdiction to the limit set by the Due Process Clauses of the Constitution. See 735 ILCS 5/2–209(c).) So, plaintiffs rely on specific jurisdiction. See Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S.A. v. Brown, ––– U.S. ––––, 131 S.Ct. 2846, 180 L.Ed.2d 796 (2011) (discussing the difference between general and specific jurisdiction). They say that Noboa's death is connected to Illinois through a causal chain beginning with the use of Orbitz's website. Having booked and paid from a computer in Illinois, Noboa went to Los Cabos, took an offer extended by a different business, had an accident, and died. That causal chain suffices for personal jurisdiction in Illinois, plaintiffs insist, even though Rancho...
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