Ex parte Paul Maclean Land Services, Inc.
| Decision Date | 26 February 1993 |
| Citation | 613 So.2d 1284 |
| Parties | Ex parte PAUL MACLEAN LAND SERVICES, INC., et al. (In re CANLAN OIL COMPANY, et al. v. PAUL MACLEAN LAND SERVICES, INC., et al.) 1920154. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Robert E. Cooper and Rhonda K. Pitts of Rives & Peterson, Birmingham, for petitioners.
John M. Johnson and William H. Brooks of Lightfoot, Franklin, White & Lucas, Birmingham, for respondents.
The sole issue presented by this petition for a writ of mandamus is whether the Circuit Court of Jefferson County should be ordered to dismiss this action filed against nonresidents on the ground that the court did not have personal jurisdiction of the nonresident defendants. After studying the petition and the evidence presented in support of it, we hold that the trial court had personal jurisdiction of the nonresident defendants. We deny the writ.
This case arises out of the operation of several oil and gas properties in Louisiana. The petitioner Paul Maclean is a Louisiana citizen and is the president of the petitioner Paul Maclean Land Services, Inc., a Louisiana corporation having its principal place of business in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. Paul Maclean and his wife, Judith Maclean, also a resident citizen of Louisiana, own 100% of the stock of Paul Maclean Land Services, Inc.
The plaintiffs are Canlan Oil Company, Lanoco, Inc., and Hobart A. McWhorter, Jr. Canlan, a Louisiana corporation, operated numerous oil and gas fields in Louisiana. These oil and gas fields were owned by various partnerships with partners from numerous states. Paul Maclean and his company entered into an oral contract in Louisiana with Canlan to serve as the manager for Canlan's oil and gas fields in Louisiana. Maclean was entrusted with the day-to-day administrative and production decisions regarding these oil and gas properties operated by Canlan and owned by various groups of general partners. Among these partners were many Alabama residents, including plaintiff McWhorter. Paul Maclean and Paul Maclean Land Services performed these managerial and administrative services for Canlan for approximately 10 years.
Pursuant to his contract with Canlan, Maclean coordinated the activities of numerous contractors and consultants. Maclean would approve invoices submitted for payment by these contractors and consultants, and, after he approved them, he would give them to Andrew McCollam, Jr., the president of Canlan, for his approval. McCollam is a resident and citizen of Terrebone Parish, Louisiana. After McCollam approved the invoices, McCollam would generally instruct Maclean to send most of them to Canlan's accountant, Herb Raburn, who lived in Birmingham. All of these invoices were approved by McCollam and were paid to Maclean in Louisiana.
In October 1991, Lanoco, Inc., an Alabama corporation, was formed; it succeeded Canlan as operator of the oil and gas properties in Louisiana. According to Mr. Maclean, he never knew Lanoco was an Alabama corporation, never knew its offices were located in Birmingham, and really did not know anything about Lanoco until he was told that Lanoco was going to take over the operation from Canlan. Herb Raburn, who had previously handled the invoices approved by Maclean and Canlan, was the president of Lanoco.
In March 1992, Canlan, Lanoco, and McWhorter filed the complaint here involved against Paul Maclean, Maclean Land Services Inc., and several other individuals and businesses from Louisiana. The complaint, as amended, sought damages for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, conspiracy to defraud, and tortious interference with business and contractual relations, and also sought equitable relief in the form of a declaratory judgment and an accounting. The gravamen of the plaintiffs' complaint was that the defendants had organized a scheme to defraud them by agreeing to submit invoices seeking payment for services not rendered and for services that previously had been invoiced and paid.
In May 1992, Maclean and Paul Maclean Land Services filed a motion to dismiss, claiming that the Alabama court lacked personal jurisdiction of each of them. Circuit Judge Jack Carl denied the motion to dismiss. Maclean and Paul Maclean Land Services subsequently filed this petition for a writ of mandamus.
This Court has repeatedly made it clear that a writ of mandamus is an extraordinary remedy requiring a showing that there is: "(1) a clear legal right in the petitioner to the order sought; (2) an imperative duty upon the respondent to perform, accompanied by a refusal to do so; (3) the lack of another adequate remedy; and (4) the properly invoked jurisdiction of the court." Ex parte Alfab, Inc., 586 So.2d 889, 891 (Ala.1991). Because the order of the trial court was interlocutory, a writ of mandamus is an appropriate remedy for the petitioners in this case. Ex parte Hartford Insurance Co., 394 So.2d 933 (Ala.1981).
Alabama's long-arm rule, Rule 4.2, Ala.R.Civ.P., extends the jurisdiction of the Alabama courts to the permissible limits of due process. Knowles v. Modglin, 553 So.2d 563, 565 (Ala.1989); Dillon Equities v. Palmer & Cay, Inc., 501 So.2d 459, 461 (Ala.1986). Rule 4.2(a)(2) sets out the bases for personal jurisdiction over nonresident defendants. Applicable to this case, Rule 4.2(a)(2)(I) provides in pertinent part:
Whether sufficient contacts exist so that the maintenance of the suit in Alabama does not offend reasonableness and fair play is determined on a case by case basis. Bryant v. Ceat S.P.A., 406 So.2d 376, 377 (Ala.1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 944, 102 S.Ct. 2008, 72 L.Ed.2d 466 (1982).
In Keelean v. Central Bank of the South, 544 So.2d 153, 156 (Ala.1989), this Court set out a two-step analysis for determining whether an Alabama court can exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant:
The fundamental question here is whether there is "a...
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