Rowe v. Dorrough

• Decision Date: 13 January 1984
• Citation: 198 Cal.Rptr. 131,150 Cal.App.3d 901
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: Timothy ROWE, a Minor, etc., Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Debbie Lynn DORROUGH, Yamaha Motor Company, Ltd., Japan, Yamaha International Corporation, aka Yamaha Motor Corporation USA, Defendants and Respondents. AO15698. Civ. 54728.

Page 131

198 Cal.Rptr. 131

150 Cal.App.3d 901

Timothy ROWE, a Minor, etc., Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Debbie Lynn DORROUGH, Yamaha Motor Company, Ltd., Japan, Yamaha International Corporation, aka Yamaha Motor Corporation USA, Defendants and Respondents.

AO15698.

Civ. 54728.

Court of Appeal, First District, Division 1, California.

Jan. 13, 1984.

Gerald C. Sterns, San Francisco, Bryce C. Anderson, Martinez, John A. DeRonde, Jr., Glen A. DeRonde, DeRonde & DeRonde, Fairfield, for plaintiffs and appellants.

Ralph Robinson, Louis H. Castoria, Wilson, Elser, Edelman & Dicker, San Francisco, for defendants and respondents.

ELKINGTON, Associate Justice.

Plaintiff Pauline Rowe, as guardian ad litem for Timothy Rowe, appeals from a superior court order quashing service of summons on defendant Yamaha Motor Company, Ltd., Japan (hereafter Yamaha Japan).

The action's complaint disclosed that the plaintiff minor, Timothy Rowe, suffered personal injuries and damages caused by a collision between an automobile and a Yamaha motorcycle operated by him. Among the action's several defendants was joined Yamaha Japan, the motorcycle's manufacturer, on the theory of strict liability in tort. Service of summons was effected upon that defendant, among others.

Upon such service Yamaha Japan moved to quash service of summons "on the ground that the court lacks jurisdiction over Yamaha [Japan], in that no basis for jurisdiction exists between it and the State of California."

The motion to quash was granted, and this appeal followed.

We state the relevant and legally admissible evidence presented to the superior court on the motion.

Yamaha Japan is a Japanese corporation which itself does no business in the State of California. It manufactures motorcycles in Japan which it sells in Japan to Yamaha International Corporation, also known as Yamaha Motor Corporation USA, a California corporation (hereafter, Yamaha USA). Yamaha USA in turn, sells and distributes the motorcycles in California and other states of the Union. Such sales and distribution are pursuant "to a nationwide selling effort and this creates a demand for the product in Japan." Upon sale and delivery of the motorcycles to Yamaha USA in Japan, Yamaha Japan has no further "involvement" with them.

And Yamaha Japan "maintains no office in the State of California, employs no person in the State of California, is not qualified to do business in the State of California, does no business in the State of California, owns no real or personal property in the State of California, is party to no contract in the State of California, and performs no services in the State of California."

(We take no notice of other unsworn self-serving allegations and "facts" appearing only in the complaint and the parties' briefs.)

Further, after compliance with Evidence Code section 459, we take judicial notice of (1) the fact that a great number of Yamaha motorcycles were and are sold in California (Evid.Code, § 452, subd. (g)), and of the reported cases, Dotterweich v. Yamaha Intern. Corp. (Minn.1976) 416 F.Supp. 542, and Yoder v. Yamaha International Corporation (Pa.1971) 331 F.Supp. 1084. (Evid.Code, § 452, subd. (c).) ^* Dotterweich found that: "Two of the five directors of [Yamaha Japan] also act as two of the five directors of [Yamaha USA]." (416 F.Supp., pp. 543-544.)

Code of Civil Procedure section 410.10 provides: "A court of this state may exercise jurisdiction on any basis not inconsistent with the Constitution of this state or of the United States."

And: As noted in Michigan Nat. Bank v. Superior Court (1972) 23 Cal.App.3d 1, 6, 99 Cal.Rptr. 823; "Section 410.10 of the Code of Civil Procedure ... manifests an intent to exercise the broadest possible jurisdiction. The constitutional perimeters of this jurisdiction are found in the decisions of the United States Supreme Court."

We are advised by a decision of the United States Supreme Court that: "The limits imposed on state jurisdiction ... have been substantially relaxed over the years [because] 'modern transportation and communication have made it much less burdensome for a party sued to defend himself in a State where he engages in economic activity.' " (World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson (1979) 444 U.S. 286, 292-293, 100 S.Ct. 559, 564-565, 62 L.Ed.2d 490.)

A state may exercise jurisdiction against a nonresident where it is "fair" and "reasonable" to do so; its exercise must not offend " 'traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.' " (World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson, supra, p. 292, 100 S.Ct. at p. 564; Internat. Shoe Co. v. Washington (1945) 326 U.S. 310, 316, 66 S.Ct. 154, 158, 90 L.Ed. 95; Milliken v. Meyer (1940) 311 U.S. 457, 463, 61 S.Ct. 339, 342, 85 L.Ed. 278.)

"The crucial inquiry concerns the character of defendant's activity in the forum, whether the cause of action arises out of or has a substantial connection with that activity, and upon the balancing of the convenience of the parties and the interests of the state in assuming jurisdiction." (Cornelison v. Chaney (1976) 16 Cal.3d 143, 148, 127 Cal.Rptr. 352, 545 P.2d 264; and see Hanson v. Denckla (1958) 357 U.S. 235, 250-253, 78 S.Ct. 1228, 1237-1239, 2 L.Ed.2d 1283; McGee v. International Life Ins. Co. (1957) 355 U.S. 220, 223, 78 S.Ct. 199, 201, 2 L.Ed.2d 223.) Among the considerations will be (1) the "interest" of the forum state "in opening its courts to residents seeking redress ..., particularly when its courts are the only ones accessible to them as a practical matter," (2) whether the cause of action arises out of or is connected with the defendant's forum-related activity, and (3) the desirability of avoiding "multiplicity of suits with possibly conflicting results if plaintiff is forced to sue" some defendants in the forum state, and another elsewhere. (Buckeye Boiler Co. v. Superior Court (1969) 71 Cal.2d 893, 899, 902-903, 906, 80 Cal.Rptr. 113, 458 P.2d 57.)

But: "Even if the defendant would suffer minimal or no inconvenience from being forced to litigate before the tribunals of another State; even if the forum State has a strong interest in applying its law to the controversy; even if the forum State is the most convenient location for litigation, the Due Process Clause, acting as an instrument of interstate federalism, may sometimes act to divest the State of its power to render a valid judgment." (World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson, supra, 444 U.S. 286, 294, 100 S.Ct. 559, 565, 62 L.Ed.2d 490.)

The principal argument of Yamaha Japan is that this state's superior court, as a matter of law, is devoid of jurisdiction over it because, as noted, it "maintains no office in the State of California, employs no person in the State of California, is not qualified to do business in the State of California, does no business in the State of California, owns no real or personal property in the State of California, is party to no contract in the State of California, and performs no services in the State of California." Having no direct contact of any kind with California, it argues, imposition of the state's jurisdiction is constitutionally unacceptable.

Yamaha Japan misapprehends the law.

The evidence before the superior court made manifest that a large number of Yamaha motorcycles were marketed in California through the instrumentality of Yamaha USA, and that Yamaha Japan derived an economic benefit therefrom.

"A manufacturer's economic relationship with a state does not necessarily differ in substance, nor should its amenability to jurisdiction necessarily differ, depending upon whether it deals directly or indirectly with residents of the state. 'With the increasing specialization of commercial activity and the growing interdependence of business enterprises it is seldom that a manufacturer deals directly with consumers in other States. The fact that the benefit he derives from [their] laws is an indirect one, however, does not make [those laws] any the less essential to the conduct of his business; and it is not unreasonable, where a cause of action arises from alleged defects in his product, to say that the use of such products in the ordinary course of commerce is...