Schmidkunz v. Scandinavian Airlines System, 77-3833
| Decision Date | 15 August 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 77-3833,77-3833 |
| Citation | 628 F.2d 1205 |
| Parties | Berdelle SCHMIDKUNZ, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SCANDINAVIAN AIRLINES SYSTEM, Kingdom of Denmark and Copenhagen Airports Authority, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Gilbert A. Thomas, Tustin, Cal., for plaintiff-appellant.
David S. MacCuish, McCutchen, Black, Verleger & Shea, Los Angeles, Cal., for defendants-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
Before CHAMBERS and TANG, Circuit Judges, and ORRICK, * District Judge.
Appellant Schmidkunz sued the Kingdom of Denmark, the Copenhagen Airports Authority, and Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), in the Central District of California. The Airports Authority is an agency of the Kingdom of Denmark. SAS is a foreign consortium with its principal place of business in Stockholm, Sweden. Her complaint alleged negligence in the operation and maintenance of a moving walkway in the area of the passenger terminal at the Kastrup Airport at Copenhagen, which is operated by the Airports Authority. She had debarked from an airliner from the United States and was in the terminal awaiting a departure on an SAS airliner for the remainder of her trip.
The district judge dismissed Denmark and the Airports Authority for lack of personal jurisdiction, holding that appellant's service of a tourism representative at the Scandinavian National Tourist Office in Los Angeles was insufficient. The district judge thereafter granted summary judgment in favor of SAS, holding that it owed appellant no duty of care with respect to the operation or maintenance of the walkway.
We shall discuss the dismissal of Denmark and CAA first. The motion to dismiss was supported by a detailed affidavit of the manager of the tourism office, stating that it is a joint effort of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland, and operates as a part of the embassy diplomatic missions in Los Angeles staffed by an employee (having diplomatic status) of each of the five countries except Iceland. Its purpose is to promote tourism and serve as a liaison with local tourist agencies, travel writers, tour operators, etc. The office sells nothing, receives no commissions, promotes no income, makes no reservations, organizes no tours, and "other than irregular and infrequent magazine advertisements, we engage in no commercial activity whatsoever."
The motion was also supported by an affidavit of the Director of the Copenhagen Airports Authority describing its operations. The Authority "has no officers, agents or employees and makes no sales or purchases outside Denmark . . . does not conduct or engage in any advertising or public relations activities outside Denmark (and) . . . has no sources of revenue from outside Denmark."
Appellant struggles to present theories that would justify service on the tourism office, but given the very attenuated nature of Denmark's activities in the Central District and the absence of any activity there by the Airports Authority, the district court properly found that there could be no general in personam jurisdiction over those defendants. Similarly, the fact that the alleged tortious activity occurred in Copenhagen would rule out any claim of specific in personam jurisdiction. See Data Disc, Inc. v. Systems Technology Associates, Inc., 557 F.2d 1280 (9th Cir. 1977). Denmark and the Airports Authority were properly dismissed as parties defendant in this litigation.
The order for summary judgment in favor of Scandinavian Airlines System was also proper. App...
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