Martinez v. Aero Caribbean

• Decision Date: 21 August 2014
• Docket Number: No. 12–16043.,12–16043.
• Citation: Martinez v. Aero Caribbean, 764 F.3d 1062 (9th Cir. 2014)
• Parties: Lorenzo Mendoza MARTINEZ; Eliezer Mendoza Martinez; Eliu Mendoza; Gloria Martinez Montes, Plaintiffs–Appellants, v. AERO CARIBBEAN; Empressa Aerocaribbean, S.A.; Cubana De Aviacion, S.A.; ATR; Gie Avions De Transport Regional, Defendants–Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

764 F.3d 1062

Lorenzo Mendoza MARTINEZ; Eliezer Mendoza Martinez; Eliu Mendoza; Gloria Martinez Montes, Plaintiffs–Appellants,

v.AERO CARIBBEAN; Empressa Aerocaribbean, S.A.; Cubana De Aviacion, S.A.; ATR; Gie Avions De Transport Regional, Defendants–Appellees.

No. 12–16043.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted April 7, 2014.

Filed Aug. 21, 2014.

Brian J. Malloy (argued), Thomas John Brandi, Daniel Dell'Osso, The Brandi Law Firm, San Francisco, CA, for Plaintiffs–Appellants.

Eric C. Strain (argued), Cameron Robert Cloar, Brian C. Dalrymple, Nixon Peabody LLP, San Francisco, CA, for Defendant–Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, William Alsup, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. 3:11–cv–03194–WHA.

Before: BARRY G. SILVERMAN, WILLIAM A. FLETCHER, and JAY S. BYBEE, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

W. FLETCHER, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs, the heirs of Lorenzo Corazon Mendoza Cervantes, appeal the district court's dismissal of their claims against Avions de Transport Régional (“ATR”) for lack of personal jurisdiction. Cervantes was a passenger on an airplane that crashed in Cuba, killing everyone aboard. ATR, a French company, designed and manufactured the airplane. Plaintiffs sued ATR in federal court in California, alleging that ATR's defective design and construction of the airplane caused the crash.

We must decide whether, under Burnham v. Superior Court, 495 U.S. 604, 110 S.Ct. 2105, 109 L.Ed.2d 631 (1990), service of process on a corporation's officer within the forum state creates general personal jurisdiction over the corporation. We hold that Burnham does not apply to corporations. A court may exercise general personal jurisdiction over a corporation only when its contacts “render it essentially at home” in the state. Daimler AG v. Bauman, ––– U.S. ––––, 134 S.Ct. 746, 751, 187 L.Ed.2d 624 (2014) (alteration and internal quotation marks omitted). Because ATR is not otherwise “essentially at home” in California, and service on its corporate officer did not render it so, we affirm the district court.

I. Background

ATR designs, manufactures, and sells aircraft. In November 2010, an airplane designed and built by ATR crashed approximately 200 miles southeast of Havana, Cuba. All sixty-eight people on board the airplane died, including Cervantes. In 1995, ATR had sold the airplane to Commuter Finance IV Ltd., a Grand Cayman company, which in the same year sold the airplane to Continental Airlines, Inc., a Texas corporation. Plaintiffs allege that at the time of the crash, the airplane was owned, maintained, serviced, and operated by some combination of Aero Caribbean, Empresa Aerocaribbean S.A., and Cubana de Aviacion S.A., international airlines based in Cuba. There is no evidence the airplane was ever operated in California or owned by a California citizen or resident.

ATR is organized under French law. Its headquarters and principal place of business are in France. It is not licensed to do business in California, and it has no office or other physical presence there. It purchases parts from suppliers in California, sends representatives to California to promote its business, and advertises in trade publications available in California. It has sold airplanes to Air Lease Corp., a California corporation. Empire Airlines, a regional airline unaffiliated with ATR, operates ATR airplanes on its route between Santa Barbara and Ontario, California. Empire Airlines purchased its ATR airplanes secondhand from third parties, not directly from ATR. ATR North America, a wholly owned subsidiary of ATR, had its headquarters in Virginia at the time of the crash. It has since relocated its headquarters to Florida.

Cervantes's widow, Gloria Martinez Montes, and his three sons, Lorenzo Mendoza Martinez, Eliu Mendoza, and Eliezer Mendoza Martinez, sued ATR in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. They alleged claims for products liability, negligence, breach of warranty, and wrongful death against ATR. Plaintiffs also alleged various claims, which are not at issue in this appeal, against Aero Caribbean, Empressa Aerocaribbean S.A., and Cubana de Aviacion S.A. (collectively, “the Cuban defendants”). Three of the four plaintiffs reside in California. Montes resides in Mexico.

Plantiffs served the summons and complaint on ATR at its headquarters in France. ATR moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction. The district court held that plaintiffs' allegations did not support personal jurisdiction over ATR, but it did not immediately grant ATR's motion. Instead, the court held the motion in abeyance and gave plaintiffs slightly more than two months to conduct limited jurisdictional discovery. During the discovery period, plaintiffs served copies of the summons and complaint on ATR's vice president of marketing while he was in California attending a conference on ATR's behalf. ATR does not dispute that this method of service was proper under California law. SeeCal.Civ.Proc.Code § 416.10(b).

After the close of discovery, plaintiffs filed a supplemental opposition to ATR's motion to dismiss. Plaintiffs argued first that their in-state service on ATR's vice president of marketing created general personal jurisdiction over ATR under Burnham v. Superior Court, 495 U.S. 604, 110 S.Ct. 2105, 109 L.Ed.2d 631 (1990). Second, plaintiffs argued that ATR's contacts with California, not limited to the transient presence of ATR's vice president, were sufficiently extensive to create general personal jurisdiction. Plaintiffs also requested additional discovery to investigate ATR North America's contacts with California.

The district court granted ATR's motion to dismiss and denied plaintiffs' request for additional jurisdictional discovery. Plaintiffs appealed. At that time, the Cuban defendants had not yet been served. After plaintiffs filed their notice of appeal to this court, they served the Cuban defendants and continued to pursue their claims against those defendants in the district court. Accordingly, we held that the district court's order granting ATR's motion to dismiss was not an appealable final judgment and ordered a limited remand for the district court to decide whether to certify its order as an appealable final judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b). Mendoza Martinez v. Aero Caribbean, No. 12–16043, –––Fed.Appx. ––––, 2014 WL 2310329 (9th Cir. May 30, 2014) (unpublished order remanding to district court). We retained jurisdiction over this appeal. Id. at ––––, 2014 WL 2310329, at *6.

On limited remand, the district court certified under Rule 54(b) its order dismissing plaintiffs' claims against ATR. We now have jurisdiction over that order under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

II. Standard of Review

We review de novo the district court's decision that it lacks personal jurisdiction over ATR. See Schwarzenegger v. Fred Martin Motor Co., 374 F.3d 797, 800 (9th Cir.2004). Plaintiffs bear the burden of showing that jurisdiction is proper, but “[w]here, as here, the motion is based on written materials rather than an evidentiary hearing, the plaintiff[s] need only make a prima facie showing of jurisdictional facts.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). We review for abuse of discretion the district court's denial of plaintiffs' request for additional discovery. Morton v. Hall, 599 F.3d 942, 945 (9th Cir.2010).

III. Discussion

“Where, as here, there is no applicable federal statute governing personal jurisdiction, the district court applies the law of the state in which the district court sits.” Schwarzenegger, 374 F.3d at 800 (citing Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(k)(1)(A)). “California's long-arm statute, Cal.Civ.Proc.Code § 410.10, is coextensive with federal due process requirements, so the jurisdictional analyses under state law and federal due process are the same.” Mavrix Photo, Inc. v. Brand Techs., Inc., 647 F.3d 1218, 1223 (9th Cir.2011). The district court held it could not exercise personal jurisdiction over ATR consistent with federal due process. We agree.

A. Personal Jurisdiction Over ATR

It is well established that the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause limits the power of a state's courts to exercise jurisdiction over defendants who do not consent to jurisdiction. Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S.A. v. Brown, ––– U.S. ––––, 131 S.Ct. 2846, 2850, 180 L.Ed.2d 796 (2011). There are two kinds of personal jurisdiction that a state's courts may exercise over an out-of-state defendant. Id. at 2851. The first, known as “specific jurisdiction,” exists when a case “aris[es] out of or relate[s] to the defendant's contacts with the forum.” Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia, S.A. v. Hall, 466 U.S. 408, 414 n. 8, 104 S.Ct. 1868, 80 L.Ed.2d 404 (1984); see Daimler, 134 S.Ct. at 755 (observing that “specific jurisdiction has become the centerpiece of modern jurisdiction theory” (quoting Goodyear, 131 S.Ct. at 2854) (internal quotation marks omitted)). The second, known as “general jurisdiction,” allows “a defendant to be haled into court in the forum state to answer for any of its activities anywhere in the world.” Schwarzenegger, 374 F.3d at 801. General jurisdiction over a corporation is appropriate only when the corporation's contacts with the forum state “are so constant and pervasive as to render it essentially at home” in the state. Daimler, 134 S.Ct. at 751 (quoting Goodyear, 131 S.Ct. at 2851) (internal quotation marks and alteration omitted).

Although the terms “specific” and “general” jurisdiction were not adopted by the Supreme Court until fairly recently, these two kinds of personal jurisdiction can be traced back to the Court's decision in International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945). International Shoe reconceptualized the Court's earlier approach to personal jurisdiction, most famously described in Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U.S. 714, 24...