Edwards v. Radventures, Inc.
| Decision Date | 13 September 2001 |
| Docket Number | Civ.A. No. 00-40212-NMG. |
| Citation | 164 F.Supp.2d 190 |
| Parties | Paul EDWARDS, Plaintiff, v. RADVENTURES, INC. and Works Performance Products, Inc., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts |
Eric J. Parker, Parker/Scheer, Boston, MA, for plaintiff.
Paul D. Williams, Deborah S. Russo, Day, Berry & Howard LLP, Hartford, CT, for defendants.
On the basis of diversity jurisdiction, the plaintiff, Paul Edwards ("Edwards") filed suit in federal court against defendants Radventures, Inc. ("Radventures") and Work Performance Products, Inc. ("WPP") for personal injuries arising out of Edwards' use of a product called the "Yetti Racer" monoski. The Yetti Racer monoski is allegedly manufactured by Radventures and contains "sub-component parts and sub-assemblies of [WPP]". Edwards is a member of the United States Disabled ski team and was injured while using the monoski. Edwards asserts state law claims of negligence, breach of implied warranty of merchantability and breach of warranty of fitness for a particular purpose.
Defendant Radventures has filed, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(2), a motion to dismiss plaintiff's claims with prejudice for lack of personal jurisdiction. Edwards responds in opposition to that motion that this Court has personal jurisdiction over Radventures pursuant to the Massachusetts long-arm statute, specifically, M.G.L. c. 223A, § 3(a) and (b).
When challenged by the defendant, the plaintiff bears the burden of proving the existence of personal jurisdiction. Foster-Miller, Inc. v. Babcock & Wilcox Canada, 46 F.3d 138, 145 (1st Cir. 1995). In considering the defendants' motion, this Court employs the prima facie standard under which the Court considers whether the plaintiffs have proffered evidence that, "if credited, is enough to support findings of all facts essential to personal jurisdiction." Boit v. Gar-Tec Products, Inc., 967 F.2d 671, 675 (1st Cir. 1992). When determining whether a prima facie showing has been made, this Court does not act as a factfinder, but instead "accepts properly supported proffers of evidence by a plaintiff as true." Id. at 675. Therefore, "while allegations of fact in an uncontroverted affidavit must be accepted as true for the purposes of a rule 12 motion, the plaintiff ... bears the burden of establishing sufficient facts on which to predicate jurisdiction over the defendant." Stanton v. AM General Corp., 50 Mass.App.Ct. 116, 117, 735 N.E.2d 407 (Mass.App.Ct.2000) (citations and internal quotations omitted).
Because questions of personal jurisdiction involve detailed examination of the particular circumstances of each case, facts of jurisdictional significance must be set forth at some length. Nowak v. Tak How Inv. Ltd., 899 F.Supp. 25, 27 (D.Mass. 1995), aff'd, 94 F.3d 708 (1st Cir.1996).
Plaintiff Edwards is a resident of Winchenden, Massachusetts. Defendant Radventures is an Oregon corporation with its principal place of business in Sherwood, Oregon. It was incorporated in 1991.
According to Edwards' affidavit, in December, 1997, he attended a ski event called "Ski Spectacular" in Breckenridge, Colorado. Genie and Michael Goodman, the co-owners of Radventures, allegedly approached him to discuss his purchase of a Yetti monoski. Edwards contends that at the time, he did not place an order for a monoski but Michael Goodman took his measurements for one and provided him with Radventures order information.
Edwards asserts that he placed an order for the Yetti Racer monoski in October, 1998 by faxing his new measurements and his order form to Radventures from his home in Sudbury, Massachusetts. The contract for the purchase of the monoski provided for delivery to his home but, according to Edwards, when delivery was past due he requested that the monoski be rerouted to New Hampshire for his use in training for an upcoming ski competition. Edwards contends that Radventures sent copies of the purchase order invoice and Yetti Racer monoski documents to his home in Sudbury.
According to Radventures, its records indicate that Edwards solicited the order from Radventures by telephone in July, 1998, faxed in a measurement sheet in August, 1998 from Massachusetts, and received the ski in January, 1999 when Radventures shipped it to Loon Mountain, New Hampshire. Almost immediately after receiving the monoski Edwards began to experience equipment and performance problems with it. He corresponded with the service and technical departments of Radventures, via telephone and electronic mail, on numerous occasions between December, 1998 and April, 1999, to discuss those problems.
In April, 1999 Edwards shipped from Massachusetts to Radventures in Oregon parts of his monoski seat and shock for repairs. After performing repairs on those parts, Radventures' service department shipped them back to Edwards in Massachusetts. In July, 1999, Radventures sent correspondence to Edwards in Massachusetts soliciting his purchase of a new shock for his monoski.
Edwards attended a ski event in Breckenridge, Colorado on December 6, 1999. While he assisted beginner skiers and monoskiers on a beginner ski run and operated the subject monoski, it allegedly malfunctioned, throwing him from the monoski and causing serious and permanent injuries.
Radventures contends that (1) it does not regularly solicit business or derive revenue from goods used or consumed in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, (2) it has no offices or facilities, no agents or employees, no bank accounts, and no real or personal property in Massachusetts, (3) it is not subject to taxation in Massachusetts, (4) it has never advertised or solicited business in Massachusetts, (5) none of its agents acting on its behalf advertises or solicits business in Massachusetts and (6) it has never instituted a lawsuit in the Commonwealth nor sought the application of Massachusetts law in any lawsuit.
Radventures' sales figures indicate that since its inception in 1991, it has made sales to only six Massachusetts residents. Of those six, one bought the ski in Colorado and carried it home to Massachusetts, while two others solicited the ski in New Hampshire. Since 1996, Radventures has made sales to individuals residing in Massachusetts in a total amount of $11,718. Those sales represented between 0.25% to 3.6% of Radventures' gross sales for those years.
Radventures' contends that its internet website did not go on-line until December, 1998, after Edwards ordered the product in question. To date that website has no on-line capacity but can only be used to submit measurement information, and orders must be made either by telephone or facsimile. Edwards asserts that the website has been operational since November 17, 1998 and that through the site, Radventures provides potential customers with the name and address of "the Massachusetts facility" along with a contact name, phone number and email address to facilitate the testing of such a monoski.
A. Applicable Law
To determine whether a federal district court has jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant in a diversity suit, the court must look to the law of the forum state. Hahn v. Vermont Law School, 698 F.2d 48, 49 (1st Cir.1983). Under Massachusetts law, jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant is appropriate if it is both authorized by statute and consistent with the due process requirements of the United States Constitution. Good Hope Indus., Inc. v. Ryder Scott, Co., 378 Mass. 1, 5-6, 389 N.E.2d 76 (1979); Nowak v. Tak How Inv., Ltd., 94 F.3d 708, 712 (1st Cir. 1996).
The Massachusetts long-arm statute provides, in relevant part, that a Massachusetts 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 the person's
(a) transacting any business in this commonwealth [or]
(b) contracting to supply services or things in this commonwealth
M.G.L. c. 223A, §§ (a) and (b).
a. Transaction of Business in Massachusetts
In order for jurisdiction to exist pursuant to § 3(a), the facts must satisfy two requirements: (1) the defendant must have transacted business in Massachusetts and (2) the plaintiff's claim must have arisen from the defendant's transaction of such business. Tatro v. Manor Care, Inc., 416 Mass. 763, 767, 625 N.E.2d 549 (1994).
The "transacting any business" clause has been construed broadly. Tatro, 416 Mass. at 767, 625 N.E.2d 549. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ("SJC") has explained that
[a]lthough 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.
Id. Therefore, when a minor transaction is part of "a larger systematic effort to obtain business from Massachusetts businesses and residents," a foreign defendant may be deemed to have transacted business under § 3(a). Id. at 769, 625 N.E.2d 549.
In Tatro, for example, the SJC found that the acceptance by a defendant, nonresident hotel of a reservation from a Massachusetts resident by telephone constituted transacting business under the longarm statute because that contact was part of a broader attempt to solicit business from Massachusetts. Id. at 768-69, 625 N.E.2d 549. Similarly, this District Court has interpreted Tatro to stand for the proposition that § 3(a) is satisfied "when there is persistent advertising and solicitation of business from Massachusetts residents, even if it only involves a single sale...." Digital Equip. Corp. v. AltaVista Tech., Inc., 960 F.Supp. 456, 465-66 n. 19 (D.Mass.1997).
In this case, the Court finds that Radventures transacts business in Massachusetts for purposes of § 3(a)....
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