Maguire Plastic Surgery Ctr., LLC v. Booker

• Decision Date: 22 May 2013
• Docket Number: No. 47,929–CA.,47,929–CA.
• Citation: 117 So.3d 239
• Parties: MAGUIRE PLASTIC SURGERY CENTER, LLC, Plaintiff–Appellant v. Dr. John BOOKER, Dr. Donya Watson, and South Arkansas Women's Clinic, PLC, Defendants–Appellees.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

117 So.3d 239

MAGUIRE PLASTIC SURGERY CENTER, LLC, Plaintiff–Appellant

v.Dr. John BOOKER, Dr. Donya Watson, and South Arkansas Women's Clinic, PLC, Defendants–Appellees.

No. 47,929–CA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

May 22, 2013.

Rountree Law Offices, Monroe, LA, by James A. Rountree, for Appellant.

Hudson, Potts & Bernstein, Monroe, LA, by G. Adam Cossey, for Appellees.

Before BROWN, STEWART and CARAWAY, JJ.

STEWART, J.

[2 Cir. 1]Maguire Plastic Surgery Center, L.L.C. (“plaintiff”) appeals a judgment sustaining a declinatory exception of lack of personal jurisdiction filed by the defendants, Dr. John Booker, Dr. Donya Watson, and South Arkansas Women's Clinic. We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In October or November of 2010, Dr. Stephen Maguire of the Maguire Plastic Surgery Center, L.L.C., contacted the South Arkansas Women's Clinic (“Women's Clinic”) in El Dorado Arkansas, to inquire about purchasing two medical lasers. Dr. Donya Watson, one of the member-physicians of the Women's Clinic, agreed to allow Dr. Maguire to inspect the lasers at their clinic. In December 2010, Dr. Maguire traveled to the Women's Clinic to inspect the lasers. He subsequently contacted the Women's Clinic to inform them that he would like to purchase the lasers. On January 30, 2011, he traveled to the Women's Clinic, paid $26,000 for the two lasers, loaded them into his pickup truck, and returned to Louisiana.

After the sale, a dispute arose regarding alleged defects in the lasers. On January 30, 2012, the plaintiff filed a petition to enforce implied warranties in the Fourth Judicial District Court for Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, alleging that there are sufficient minimum contacts to establish jurisdiction over the defendants, Dr. John Booker, Dr. Donya Watson, and the Women's Clinic. On March 20, 2012, the defendants filed a declinatory exception of lack of personal jurisdiction, arguing that none of the activities related to the transaction at issue occurred in Louisiana, that all defendants were domiciliaries of Arkansas, and that there was no basis for the exercise [2 Cir. 2]of jurisdiction over them. On April 24, 2012, the plaintiff filed an opposition to the exception, alleging that it was “very unlikely that professionals in El Dorado, Arkansas, lack sufficient contact within the State of Louisiana for its courts to exercise jurisdiction over them.” The hearing for the exception was set for June 28, 2012.

On April 24, 2012, the plaintiff conducted jurisdictional discovery, and propounded interrogatories and requests for production seeking information of any connection between the defendants and the State of Louisiana. In those requests for production, the plaintiff included a request for “a list of the billing addresses of all of your patients.” The defendants objected to this request, arguing that the information was irrelevant and production was a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) violation. The defendants filed a motion to quash the subpoena and a request for a protective order. On May 21, 2012, the plaintiff filed a supplemental opposition to the exception and a motion to compel, seeking an order requiring the defendants to produce the addresses of all of its patients. The defendants subsequently filed a reply to the supplemental opposition and an opposition to the motion to compel.

After the June 28, 2012, hearing of the defendants' declinatory exception, the court sustained the defendants' exception of lack of personal jurisdiction and dismissed the plaintiff's lawsuit. Further, it determined that the plaintiff's motion to compel and the motion to quash were moot and irrelevant.

The plaintiff now appeals, urging two assignments of error.

[2 Cir. 3]LAW AND DISCUSSION

Personal Jurisdiction

In its first assignment of error, the plaintiff asserts that the district court erred when it granted the defendants' declinatory exception of lack of personal jurisdiction.

Appellate courts, when reviewing a trial court's legal ruling on a declinatory exception of lack of personal jurisdiction, apply a de novo standard. SteriFx, Inc. v. Roden, 41,383 (La.App.2d Cir.8/25/06), 939 So.2d 533;Walker v. Super 8 Motels, Inc., 2004–2206 (La.App. 4th Cir.12/7/05), 921 So.2d 983. However, the trial court's factual findings underlying the decision are reviewed under the manifest error standard of review. SteriFx, supra;Diamond v. Progressive Security, 2005–0820 (La.App. 1st Cir.3/24/06), 934 So.2d 739;Peters v. Alpharetta Spa, L.L.C., 2004–0979 (La.App. 1st Cir.5/6/05), 915 So.2d 908.

In determining whether there is personal jurisdiction, we must look to the Louisiana long-arm statute, La. R.S. 13:3201, which provides, in relevant part:

A. A court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident, who acts directly or by an agent, as to a cause of action arising from any one of the following activities performed by the nonresident:

(1) Transacting any business in this state.

(2) Contracting to supply services or things in this state.

(3) Causing injury or damage by an offense or quasi offense committed through an act or omission in this state.

(4) Causing injury or damage in this state by an offense or quasi offense committed through an act or omission outside of [2 Cir. 4]this state if he regularly does or solicits business, or engages in any other persistent course of conduct, or derives revenue from goods used or consumed or services rendered in this state.

...

B. In addition to the provisions of Subsection A, a court of this state may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident on any basis consistent with the constitution of this state and of the Constitution of the United States.

Subsection B was added in 1987 to ensure that jurisdiction under the long-arm statute extended to the limits allowed by due process. Official Comments, Acts 1987, No. 418.

Due process requires that, in order to subject a nonresident defendant to a personal judgment, the defendant must have certain minimum contacts with the forum state such that the maintenance of the suit does not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945); Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia, S.A. v. Hall, 466 U.S. 408, 104 S.Ct. 1868, 80 L.Ed.2d 404 (1984); de Reyes v. Marine Management and Consulting, Ltd., 586 So.2d 103 (La.1991).

The due process test has evolved into a two-part test, the first part being the “minimum contacts” prong, which is satisfied by a single act or actions by which the defendant “purposefully avails itself of the privilege of conducting activities within the forum state, thus invoking the benefits and protections of its laws.” Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 475, 105 S.Ct. 2174, 85 L.Ed.2d 528 (1985). The nonresident's “purposeful availment” must be such that the defendant “should reasonably anticipate being held in court” in the forum state. [2 Cir. 5]Ruckstuhl v. Owens CorningFiberglas Corp., 98–1126 (La.4/13/99), 731 So.2d 881,cert. denied,528 U.S. 1019, 120 S.Ct. 526, 145 L.Ed.2d 407 (1999). By requiring that a defendant must have purposefully availed himself of the privilege of conducting activities within the forum state, thus invoking the benefits and protection of its laws, the requirement ensures that he will not be haled into a jurisdiction solely as a result of random, fortuitous or attenuated contacts, or by the unilateral activity of another party or a third person. de Reyes, supra;Alonso v. Line, 2002–2644 (La.5/20/03), 846 So.2d 745,cert. denied,540 U.S. 967, 124 S.Ct. 434, 157 L.Ed.2d 311 (2003). An individual is not subject to the jurisdiction of a forum in which he has established no “contacts, ties or relations.” International Shoe, supra.

The second part of the due process test centers around the fairness of the assertion of jurisdiction. Hence, once the plaintiff meets his burden of proving minimum contacts, “a presumption of reasonableness of jurisdiction arises” and “the burden then shifts to the opposing party to prove the assertion of jurisdiction would be so unreasonable in light of traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice as to overcome the presumption of reasonableness created by the defendant's minimum contacts with the forum.” de Reyes, supra. In determining this fundamental fairness issue, the court must examine (1) the defendant's burden; (2) the forum state's interest; (3) the plaintiff's interest in convenient and effective relief; (4) the judicial system's interest in efficient resolution of controversies; and (5) the state's shared interest in furthering fundamental social policies. Ruckstuhl, supra.

[2 Cir. 6]A court's exercise of personal jurisdiction may be “specific” or “general.” Burger King, supra. A court may exercise specific jurisdiction over a defendant when the alleged cause of action arises out of or is related to the defendant's purposeful contacts with the forum state. Helicopteros, supra. A court may exercise general jurisdiction over a defendant when the defendant has engaged in “continuous and systematic contacts” with the forum state, but the contacts are not necessarily related to the lawsuit. Id.

As the trial court commented in the case sub judice, the Women's Clinic is not in the business of selling laser equipment. Rather, Dr. Maguire was advised that the defendants had some unused laser equipment in Arkansas. Then, he made the decision to contact the defendants in Arkansas to inquire about the equipment. Soon thereafter, Dr. Maguire traveled to Arkansas to inspect the equipment. Satisfied with what he saw, Dr. Maguire decided to purchase the equipment and loaded it into his pickup to take it back to Louisiana.The transaction in its entirety took place in Arkansas.

Dr. John Booker and Dr. Donya Watson are both residents of Arkansas and are licensed to practice solely in the state of Arkansas. The...