Bashaw v. Belz Hotel Management Co., Inc.

• Decision Date: 10 January 1995
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 3:94-0639.
• Citation: 872 F. Supp. 323
• Parties: Rebecca S. BASHAW and Francis J. Bashaw, Jr., Plaintiffs, v. BELZ HOTEL MANAGEMENT CO., INC., a Tennessee corporation, and Orlando Central Park, Inc., a Delaware corporation, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of West Virginia

872 F. Supp. 323

Rebecca S. BASHAW and Francis J. Bashaw, Jr., Plaintiffs, v. BELZ HOTEL MANAGEMENT CO., INC., a Tennessee corporation, and Orlando Central Park, Inc., a Delaware corporation, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 3:94-0639.

United States District Court, S.D. West Virginia, Huntington Division.

January 10, 1995.

John J. Polak, Robert D. Cline, Jr., and Joseph K. Reeder, King, Allen & Arnold, Charleston, WV, for plaintiffs.

Martin R. Smith, Jr. and Denese Venza, Steptoe & Johnson, Charleston, WV, for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

HADEN, Chief Judge.

Pending are the Defendants' motion to dismiss and motion to transfer venue. For reasons that follow, the Defendants' motion to dismiss based on lack of personal jurisdiction is DENIED but their motion to transfer venue is GRANTED.

I

This Court has previously stated the standard used to evaluate contested personal jurisdiction is:

When a court's personal jurisdiction is contested by a Rule 12(b)(2) motion, the jurisdictional question raised is one for the court, and the plaintiff bears the burden of ultimately proving by a preponderance of the evidence the existence of a ground for jurisdiction. Combs v. Bakker, 886 F.2d 673, 676 (4th Cir.1989). But where, as here, the court addresses the challenge only on the motion papers, supporting legal memoranda, affidavits, other documents, and the relevant allegations of the complaint, the burden on the plaintiff is to make a mere prima facie showing of jurisdiction to survive the jurisdictional challenge. Id.; Ryobi America Corp. v. Peters, 815 F.Supp. 172, 175 (D.S.C.1993); Verosol B.V. v. Hunter Douglas, Inc., 806 F.Supp. 582, 588 (E.D.Va.1992).

The burden plaintiff bears to establish the court's jurisdiction normally is not a heavy one, particularly where the court chooses to rule on the issue without an evidentiary hearing. 5A Charles A. Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1351 (1990). Mere allegations of personal jurisdiction are sufficient for a party to make a prima facie showing. Dowless v. Warren-Rupp Houdailles, Inc., 800 F.2d 1305, 1307 (4th Cir. 1986). When considering a challenge to its personal jurisdiction on the parties' filings, the court must resolve factual conflicts in favor of the party asserting jurisdiction for the purpose of determining whether he or she has made the requisite prima facie showing. Bakker, 886 F.2d at 676; Eastern Marketing Corp. v. Texas Meridian Prod. Co., Inc., 798 F.Supp. 363, 364 (S.D.W.Va.1992) (Haden, C.J.). The Court must "construe all relevant pleading allegations in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, assume credibility, and draw the most favorable inferences for the existence of jurisdiction." Bakker, 886 F.2d at 676.

Clark v. Milam (Clark II), 830 F.Supp. 316, 318-319 (S.D.W.Va.1993) (Haden, C.J.) (emphasis in original). See Clark v. Milam (Clark IV), 847 F.Supp. 409, 412 (S.D.W.Va. 1994) (Haden, C.J.); Alpha Welding & Fabricating v. Todd Heller, Inc., 837 F.Supp. 172, 174 (S.D.W.Va.1993) (Haden, C.J.).

II

The material facts are undisputed. The Defendants own and operate a resort and conference center in Orlando, Florida, known as The Peabody Hotel, Orlando ("The Peabody"). The Peabody caters to large organizations and actively solicits reservations made by such groups. Advertisements for The Peabody appear in two national trade publications, Successful Meetings and Meetings Planners, targeted to corporate meeting planners. Listings for The Peabody also have appeared in services and publications aimed at travel agents such as Hotel and Travel Index, Official Hotel Guide, and Official Airlines Guides Business Travel Planner. The Peabody also operates a 1-800 telephone line. The Peabody has not conducted any business with any West Virginia organizations, nor contracted with an organization through a West Virginia travel agent.

Neither the Defendants nor The Peabody owns property in West Virginia, nor are they registered to do business in West Virginia. Neither Defendant has conducted any independent business within West Virginia.

During the fall of 1991, Walt Wilson, the Unit Chief for the Federal Bureau of Investigations ("FBI") in Washington, D.C., began arrangements for a retirement planning seminar for retiring FBI personnel to be held at The Peabody. Mr. Wilson had held the FBI's retirement seminar at The Peabody for the previous three years. Mr. Wilson coordinated the seminar and registered all interested FBI personnel including the Plaintiffs. Although Mr. Wilson coordinated accommodations and room assignments, Mr. Bashaw called The Peabody prior to the seminar to confirm his reservation. This was the sole contact between The Peabody and the Plaintiffs.

While the Plaintiffs were attending the seminar at The Peabody, Mrs. Bashaw injured her right leg and knee when she slipped and fell as she was getting out of the shower. She was taken by local paramedics to the Orlando Regional Medical Center where she underwent surgery and received follow-up medical treatment. Subsequently, Mrs. Bashaw has been treated by physicians at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

The Plaintiffs filed suit in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia, alleging the Defendants were negligent in their maintenance of the premises. The Defendants removed the case to this Court and subsequently filed the pending motion to dismiss and motion to transfer venue.

III

In response to the motion to dismiss, the Plaintiffs have asserted personal jurisdiction based on specific contacts of the Defendants to West Virginia through this litigation and the stream of commerce theory.

Traditionally, a two-step analysis has been used to resolve personal jurisdiction disputes. First, a court determines whether the state's long-arm statute is applicable. Second, a court determines whether the statute's application will violate the due process clause of the United States Constitution. Nichols v. G.D. Searle & Co., 991 F.2d 1195, 1199 (4th Cir.1993); Clark v. Milam (Clark II), 830 F.Supp. 316, 319 (S.D.W.Va.1993); Chedid v. Boardwalk Regency Corp., 756 F.Supp. 941, 942 (E.D.Va.1991). However, in cases where the state's long-arm statute extends to the limits of due process, the analysis collapses to the second step only and "the Court proceeds directly to determine whether it is constitutionally permissible to require Defendants to defend this suit in this Court." Clark II, 830 F.Supp. at 319 n. 3. See Federal Ins. Co. v. Lake Shore, Inc., 886 F.2d 654, 657 n. 2 (4th Cir.1989). West Virginia's long-arm statute, W.Va.Code § 56-3-33, is "coextensive with due process." Clark II, 830 F.Supp. at 319 n. 3 (citing Pittsburgh Terminal Corp. v. Mid Allegheny Corp., 831 F.2d 522, 525 (4th Cir.1987)). See Faulkner v. Carowinds Amusement Park, 867 F.Supp. 419, 422-23 (S.D.W.Va.1994); Harman v. Pauley, 522 F.Supp. 1130, 1135 (S.D.W.Va. 1981). Accordingly, this Court will only pursue the second step in the analysis: whether the statute's application will violate the due process clause.

Our Court of Appeals has spoken recently on the constitutional exercise of personal jurisdiction in the context of a stream of commerce analysis. In Lesnick v. Hollingsworth & Vose Co., 35 F.3d 939 (4th Cir.1994), petition for cert. filed, 63 U.S.L.W. 3488 (U.S. Dec. 19, 1994) (No. 94-1085), the Court noted

while World-Wide Volkswagen v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286, 100 S.Ct. 559, 62 L.Ed.2d 490 (1980) has been cited for the proposition that personal jurisdiction may follow a product if it is delivered "into the stream of commerce with the expectation that it will be purchased by consumers in the forum state" ... we read the holding of the case to be much narrower, requiring purposeful activity on the part of the defendants to establish a meaningful contact with the forum state.

Lesnick, 35 F.3d at 944 (case cites omitted). This panel reiterated the Court's earlier holding in Federal Ins. Co. v. Lake Shore, Inc., 886 F.2d at 658, that a "`stream of commerce' theory of personal jurisdiction ... cannot supplant the requirement that a defendant in some way purposefully avail itself of forum law."

Firmly observing the necessity of purposeful availment and fundamental fairness, the Court further explicated a general test for the constitutional application of personal jurisdiction, explaining at length:

Our reading of World-Wide Volkswagen and Asahi Metal Industry Co. v. Superior Court, 480 U.S. 102, 107 S.Ct. 1026, 94 L.Ed.2d 92 (1987) is that the Supreme Court has not abandoned the International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945) two-pronged test as further articulated in Hanson v. Denckla, 357 U.S. 235, 78 S.Ct. 1228, 2 L.Ed.2d 1283 (1958) and Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 105 S.Ct. 2174, 85 L.Ed.2d 528 (1985). The touchstone of the minimum contacts analysis remains that an out-of-state person have engaged in some activity purposefully directed toward the forum state. See Hanson, 357 U.S. at 253, 78 S.Ct. at 1239; Burger King, 471 U.S. at 475, 105 S.Ct. at 2183; World-Wide Volkswagen, 444 U.S. at 297, 100 S.Ct. at 567. And if that initial test is met, a court must still determine whether the exercise of such jurisdiction would offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. See Asahi, 480 U.S. at 113, 107 S.Ct. at 1032-33. This reading of World-Wide Volkswagen and Asahi has prior support in our jurisprudence. See Ellicott Mach. Corp. v. John Holland Party, Ltd., 995 F.2d 474, 477 (4th Cir.1993) (holding that minimum contacts exist where the defendant "purposefully directs its activities toward the residents of the forum"); See also Federal Insurance Co. v. Lake Shore, Inc., 886 F.2d 654 (4th Cir.1989). To permit a state to assert jurisdiction over any person in the country whose product is sold in the state simply because a person must expect that to happen destroys the notion of

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