Ex Parte Phil Owens Used Cars, Inc.
| Decision Date | 01 August 2008 |
| Docket Number | 1060596. |
| Citation | 4 So.3d 418 |
| Parties | Ex parte PHIL OWENS USED CARS, INC. (In re Harrison Johnson, Jr., as administrator of the estate of Harrison Johnson, Sr., et al. Bridgestone Firestone North America Tire, L.L.C., et al.). |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
William A. Mudd and James M. Strong of Miller, Hamilton, Snider & Odom, LLC, Birmingham, for petitioner.
Blaine C. Stevens of Strickland & Kendall, LLC, Montgomery, for respondents.
Phil Owens Used Cars, Inc. ("Owens Used Cars"), petitions for a writ of mandamus directing the Bullock Circuit Court to vacate its order denying Owens Used Cars' motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and to enter an order granting the motion to dismiss. We grant the petition.
The complaint in the underlying action alleges that on October 5, 2003, Frank Johnson, Sr. ("Frank"), Harrison Johnson, Sr. ("Harrison"), and several of their relatives were traveling in Frank's 1985 Chevrolet conversion van when one of the tires on the van rapidly deflated. Frank, who was apparently driving, lost control of the van. The van left the roadway and overturned. The roof of the van detached from the remainder of the vehicle; the seat-belt mechanisms in the van failed; and the occupants were ejected. As a result of the accident, Frank and Harrison were killed and the other passengers in the vehicle were injured.
The testatrix of Frank's estate, the administrator of Harrison's estate, and the other passengers (hereinafter collectively referred to as "the plaintiffs") filed a complaint in the Bullock Circuit Court against General Motors Corporation, which designed and manufactured the van; Bridgestone Firestone North America Tire, L.L.C., which manufactured the tires that were on the van at the time of the accident; Owens Used Cars, which was one of the previous owners of the van and which performed conversion work on the van; and others. The numerous claims in the plaintiffs' complaint all relate to the October 2003 accident and all sound in tort.
The complaint further alleges that "[a]t the time the subject ... Van was placed into the stream of commerce the vehicle was defective and unreasonably dangerous as those terms are defined by Alabama law and specifically the Alabama Extended Manufacturer's Liability Doctrine in that it did not provide reasonable occupant protection in a foreseeable collision." It further alleges that "[t]he ... Van was defective in its design, manufacture and/or in the warnings that accompanied it."
In February 2006, Owens Used Cars filed a motion to dismiss it as a defendant on the ground that the trial court lacked personal jurisdiction over it. Owens Used Cars argued that it did not have sufficient minimum contacts with the State of Alabama for the trial court to assert personal jurisdiction over it and that it had not "purposefully availed itself of the privilege of conducting activities" in Alabama. The motion was supported, in part, by an affidavit from Phil Owens, president of Owens Used Cars. Phil Owens's affidavit stated, in part:
The plaintiffs opposed Owens Used Cars' motion, relying on Phil Owens's deposition testimony, hereinafter discussed, and Owens Used Cars' ledger records from 1985. The 1985 ledger records reflect that Owens Used Cars sold the van to O & M Motor Company ("O & M") in June 1985 and that it sold numerous other conversion vans to O & M in 1985. The ledger records also reflect that in 1985 Owens Used Cars delivered approximately 30 vans to 2 Alabama automobile dealerships, Bill DeLoach Lincoln Mercury and Cooper Chevrolet.1 The ledger records indicate that Owens Used Cars delivered vans to one or both of the foregoing Alabama dealerships in all but one month of that year; in some months, sales to the two Alabama dealerships represented approximately five percent of Owens Used Cars' van sales for the month. The record also contains evidence from which the trial court properly could have concluded that "probably more" than the above-described vans were sold by Owens Used Cars in Alabama.2
In addition, we note that Phil Owens testified as follows in his deposition:
1. That Owens Used Cars had "done business with people in Alabama" and that its "contacts with people in Alabama came about through [its] conversion van business";
2. That Owens Used Cars "first learned of Alabama dealers through [its] conversion van business through Atlanta Auto Auction";
3. That the Alabama automobile dealers initially "bought vans from [Owens Used Cars] at the Atlanta Auto Auction";
4. That Owens Used Cars sold more than 10 conversion vans to Alabama dealers through the Atlanta Auto Auction alone and that those sales resulted from more than one transaction 5. That at the time of Phil Owens's deposition, Owens Used Cars was in the "used car business" and that it had been in the used car business since 1975;
6. That ... Owens Used Cars continued to conduct its conversion-van business until 1992;
7. That after Alabama automobile dealers purchased conversion vans from Owens Used Cars through the Atlanta Auto Auction, they began "call[ing] me and tell[ing] me what kind of van they wanted, and we would convert it for them" and ship it to Alabama;
8. That Owens Used Cars had been a defendant in a lawsuit in Alabama because its "truck driver got involved" in an accident while he was delivering a conversion van to an Alabama automobile dealer.
9. That O & M, a Columbus, Georgia, dealer, was a "regular customer" of Owens Used Cars.
Specifically, as to Owens Used Cars' conversion-van sales to Alabama automobile dealerships, Phil Owens testified, in part:
Also, as to O & M, the following colloquy appears in Phil Owens's deposition testimony:
In November 2006, the trial court entered an order denying Owens Used Cars' motion to dismiss the claims against it. The trial court did not state the grounds upon which it based its denial of the motion. Owens Used Cars has petitioned this Court for a writ of mandamus directing the...
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