Lott v. Burning Tree Club, Inc., Civ. A. No. 80-2364.

• Decision Date: 22 December 1980
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 80-2364.
• Parties: James LOTT, Plaintiff, v. BURNING TREE CLUB, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

516 F. Supp. 913

James LOTT, Plaintiff, v. BURNING TREE CLUB, INC., Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 80-2364.

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

December 22, 1980.

Howard M. Rensin, Hyattsville, Md., for plaintiff.

Laurence E. Carr, Jr., David P. Durbin, Washington, D. C., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JOHN H. PRATT, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on defendant's motion pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2) to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. For the reasons that follow, we find that defendant's motion must be granted.

Background

Plaintiff, a District of Columbia resident, is a former employee of defendant Burning Tree Club, Inc. (the Club), a private country club and Maryland corporation located in Bethesda. On December 17, 1979, the Club's office manager notified the Montgomery County, Maryland police that $1,600 had been stolen from the office's cash drawer. The Club's bartender told the police that he had seen plaintiff leaving the office around the time the money was taken. After an investigation, Maryland police obtained a warrant for plaintiff's arrest. The warrant was forwarded to the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department for service. In March, 1980 plaintiff was arrested in the District of Columbia and incarcerated briefly. He refused to waive extradition. Extradition proceedings were commenced and on May 7, 1980, plaintiff appeared at the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. He was incarcerated for ten days and released on bail. The state's attorney subsequently entered a nolle prosequi to the theft charges filed against plaintiff.

Plaintiff then brought this diversity action for false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Plaintiff asserts that personal jurisdiction over the Club exists pursuant to two provisions of the District of Columbia long-arm statute, District of Columbia Code §§ 13-423(a)(3) and (a)(4).¹ The Club now moves to dismiss on the grounds that this court lacks personal jurisdiction over it under either section of the long-arm statute relied on by plaintiff.

Discussion

In order for a court properly to assert personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant, service of process on the nonresident must be both authorized by statute and within the limits set by the due process clause of the United States Constitution. Founding Church of Scientology v. Verlag, 536 F.2d 429, 432 (D.C.Cir.1976), citing International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945). Federal courts are authorized pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 4(e) and 4(f) to look to state law to determine in what manner and under what circumstances a nonresident party can be subjected to the jurisdiction of a federal district court. See United States v. First National City Bank, 379 U.S. 378, 381, 85 S.Ct. 528, 530, 13 L.Ed.2d 365 (1965); Gatewood v. Fiat, S. p. A., 617 F.2d 820, 822 n.3 (D.C.Cir.1980). We therefore must refer to the District of Columbia long-arm statute, D.C.Code § 13-423 (1973), to determine if plaintiff has met the threshold requirement of a prima facie showing of personal jurisdiction over the Club. The District of Columbia courts have interpreted the long-arm statute's scope to be coextensive with the limits of the due process clause. Environmental Research International, Inc. v. Lockwood Greene Engineers, Inc., 355 A.2d 808, 810-811 (D.C.App.1976) (en banc); Rose v. Silver, 394 A.2d 1368, 1369 (D.C. App.1978). Nevertheless, a two-step analysis is required: we must first determine whether the long-arm statute permits the exercise of jurisdiction over defendant; if so, we then inquire whether the exercise of jurisdiction over defendant comports with constitutional due process requirements. Gatewood v. Fiat, supra, at 823; Aiken v. Lustine Chevrolet, Inc., 392 F.Supp. 883, 884 (D.D.C.1975).

Plaintiff argues that this court may assert jurisdiction over the Club under either District of Columbia Code § 13-423(a)(3) or § 13-423(a)(4). Those sections provide:

(a) A District of Columbia court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a person,² who acts directly or by an agent, as to a claim for relief arising from the person's —

. . . . .

(3) causing tortious injury in the District of Columbia by an act or omission in the District of Columbia; or

(4) causing tortious injury in the District of Columbia by an act or omission outside the District of Columbia if he regularly does or solicits business, engages in any other persistent course of conduct, or derives substantial revenue from goods used or consumed, or services rendered, in the District of Columbia.

These proposed jurisdictional bases will be discussed in turn.

Section 13-423(a)(3) — Tortious Act and Injury in the District

District of Columbia Code § 13-423(a)(3) authorizes jurisdiction over a person who causes tortious injury in the District of Columbia by an act or omission in the District. "The statute clearly separates the act from the tortious injury and affords personal jurisdiction over non-residents only when both act and injury occur in the District." Margoles v. Johns, 333 F.Supp. 942, 944-45 (D.D.C.1971), aff'd, 483 F.2d 1212 (D.C.Cir. 1973). The injury here may be inferred from plaintiff's uncontested allegation that he was arrested and detained by District of Columbia police officers in the District of Columbia.³ The Club's only "acts," however, were reporting the theft to the Maryland police and cooperating in their investigation. Plaintiff alleges nonetheless that the Club acted "directly or through an agent in the District of Columbia." Plaintiff's Memorandum at 2. Specifically plaintiff argues that the Club designated the Montgomery County police as its "agent" and that both the referral of the warrant by Montgomery County police to the District of Columbia police and plaintiff's arrest and detention by the D. C. police therefore may be attributed to the Club. Plaintiff states, "Defendant knew that plaintiff was a resident of the District of Columbia and that his arrest would most likely be effected in the District of Columbia." Plaintiff's Memorandum at 3. Plaintiff relies on Mandelkorn v. Patrick, 359 F.Supp. 692 (D.D.C.1973), in which the court asserted jurisdiction over nonresident defendants who allegedly had conspired with District of Columbia police officers and others to deny the plaintiffs' constitutional rights. Since at least one of the overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy had occurred in the District of Columbia, and since the nonresident defendants had not denied the conspiracy allegations,⁴ the court held that the requirements of D.C.Code § 13-423(a)(3) had been met and asserted jurisdiction over the nonresident defendants even though they had no other contacts with the District. Implicit in this ruling is the fact that co-conspirators are recognized as agents of each other. See id. at 696.

Here, however, the complaint alleges no conspiracy. Furthermore, plaintiff's strained efforts to expand the definition of "agency" to encompass defendant's relationship to the District of Columbia and Maryland police here cannot support personal jurisdiction. This case is factually almost identical to Marsh v. Kitchen, 480 F.2d 1270 (2d Cir. 1973). Marsh, a New York resident, had visited Missouri while federal Secret Service agents were conducting an investigation into the passing of counterfeit currency. Based upon a mistaken identity, Missouri-based federal agents obtained a warrant for Marsh's arrest. Marsh had already returned to New York, so the Missouri officers contacted federal officers in New York who arrested him there. Marsh sued the Missouri officers in federal court in New York for deprivation of constitutional rights, false arrest, and malicious prosecution. In affirming the district court's dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction over the Missouri defendants, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reviewed Marsh's argument for jurisdiction:

The record establishes that neither of the defendants/appellees ever entered New York. They therefore could not have ... committed a tortious act within the state in person. Marsh so concedes. He nevertheless argues that appellees ... committed tortious acts in New York through their agents, within the meaning of the New York long-arm statute, providing for jurisdiction over a person who "commits a tortious act within the state". He argues that the government agents who arrested and processed him in New York were the personal agents of appellees. Therefore, so the argument goes, the actions of these New York agents are attributable to appellees and provide the basis for personal jurisdiction over appellees.

Id. at 1272. The court then examined traditional agency doctrines to determine if Marsh's argument had merit. It concluded:

No such traditional agency relationship existed between appellees and the New York-based government agents.... Each of the individual defendants in the instant case was required as part of his official duties as an agent of the United States to seek out and arrest violators of federal law. Because in this case the suspected perpetrator committed a crime in Missouri and then travelled to New York, it was necessary to use federal agents in both states to effect his capture.

In no way, however, did the New York officers become agents of appellees. The notification ... that an arrest warrant had been issued certainly did not create an agency relationship.... Furthermore, the New York agents were not acting on behalf of and subject to the control of appellees.... The New York agents were under the control of the warrant, which commanded the arrest of Marsh, and of their own superiors in New York, who directed how and when the arrest should be made.

Id. at 1273.

We find the court's reasoning in Marsh persuasive here. The Montgomery County and ...