State v. Western Union Fin. Services, Inc.

• Citation: 220 Ariz. 567,208 P.3d 218
• Decision Date: 03 June 2009
• Docket Number: No. CV-08-0241-PR.,CV-08-0241-PR.
• Parties: STATE of Arizona, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. WESTERN UNION FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC., Defendant/Appellee.
• Court: Supreme Court of Arizona

208 P.3d 218

220 Ariz. 567

STATE of Arizona, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. WESTERN UNION FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC., Defendant/Appellee.

No. CV-08-0241-PR.

Supreme Court of Arizona, En Banc.

June 3, 2009.

Terry Goddard, Arizona Attorney General by Cameron H. Holmes, Assistant Attorney General, Phoenix, Attorneys for State of Arizona.

Steptoe & Johnson LLP by Karl M. Tilleman, Douglas D. Janicik, Phoenix, Charles G. Cole, Shannen W. Coffin, Washington, DC, and Sidley Austin LLP by Carter G. Phillips, Washington, DC, Attorneys for Western Union Financial Services, Inc.

OPINION

HURWITZ, Justice.

¶ 1 The issue for decision is whether an Arizona court can issue a warrant seizing Western Union money transfers sent from other states to Mexico. We hold that an Arizona court lacks jurisdiction under the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution to issue such a warrant.

I.

¶ 2 Western Union Financial Services, Inc. ("Western Union") is a Colorado corporation, whose principal place of business is in that state. Western Union's primary business, conducted throughout the United States and in more than 195 foreign countries, is person-to-person wire money transfers. A customer initiates a transfer by paying a Western Union agent the amount to be transferred and a service fee. The agent enters the information into Western Union's computer system, which assigns a control number to the transaction. The control number is given to the customer to provide to the intended recipient. The money is represented in Western Union's computer system as electronic credits. To receive the money, the intended recipient presents the control number and personal identification at a Western Union office. The sender may cancel the transfer and receive a refund until the money is paid to a recipient.

¶ 3 This case arises out of the Arizona Attorney General's commendable efforts to curtail human smuggling and narcotics trafficking. Asserting that certain Western Union wire transfers involved proceeds of these crimes, the State has obtained a number of warrants authorizing seizure for forfeiture of various transfers sent to or from Arizona. See A.R.S. § 13-2314(G)(3) (2001) (providing that proceeds of racketeering are subject to forfeiture); see also id. § 13-2314(C) (authorizing pre-judgment seizure warrant in racketeering cases); id. § 13-4310(A) (authorizing issuance of seizure warrant "prior or subsequent to the filing of a notice of pending forfeiture, complaint, indictment or information").

¶ 4 On September 21, 2006, the State applied to the superior court for the seizure warrant at issue here. An affidavit supporting the warrant application asserted that human smuggling operations based in Mexico most often smuggle immigrants into the United States through Arizona. Once in Arizona, immigrants often are detained by force in secured locations until sponsors (family, friends, or prospective employers) wire money to associates of the smugglers. After payment, the immigrants are released and make their way to destinations in Arizona or elsewhere. Similarly, the affidavit asserted, drugs smuggled into the United States from Mexico often come through Arizona, and Western Union transfers are used to wire some of the proceeds of the ultimate sales.

¶ 5 The affidavit also alleged that, as a result of the prior seizure of Western Union transfers to and from Arizona, there had been a marked increase in transfers from twenty-eight other states to certain Sonora, Mexico locations and a corresponding decrease in transfers to and from Arizona. The affidavit contended that many of these transfers from other States represented the proceeds of racketeering activities in Arizona. The affidavit did not identify any particular persons, property, or transactions that were specifically related to illegal activities in Arizona, nor did it identify any particular transfer as representing the proceeds of Arizona-based racketeering.

¶ 6 The superior court issued an ex parte seizure warrant on September 21, 2006. In relevant part, the warrant authorized the State to seize person-to-person wire transfers from twenty-eight states other than Arizona to twenty-six locations in Sonora. When payout of a transfer covered by the warrant was sought at one of the identified Sonora locations, Western Union was required to "(1) stop payment and transfer the funds to a detention account, (2) notify the intended recipient of the detention and provide that person with information to contact the seizing agency, (3) retain the funds, except those released by the seizing agency, in the detention account for twenty-one days after the warrant expired, and (4) convey any remaining detained funds to the clerk of the superior court in Maricopa County upon the expiration of the twenty-one-day period." State v. Western Union Fin. Servs., 219 Ariz. 337, 343-44 ¶ 4, 199 P.3d 592, 598-99 (App. 2008).

¶ 7 On September 22, 2006, Western Union filed motions to quash the seizure warrant and for a preliminary injunction to prevent the State from seeking similar warrants.¹ The superior court stayed the warrant pending an evidentiary hearing. After that hearing, the court granted Western Union's motions, holding that it lacked jurisdiction under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1, to seize transfers originating in other states and directed to recipients in Sonora. The court also held that the State had not established probable cause that any specific wire transfer involved the proceeds of Arizona racketeering activity and that the warrant violated the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 3.

¶ 8 The court of appeals vacated the superior court's order. Western Union, 219 Ariz. at 343 ¶ 2, 199 P.3d at 598. The court concluded that "if a foreign corporation is subject to general in personam jurisdiction in Arizona, its debts can be considered within this state for purposes of in rem jurisdiction." Id. at 350 ¶ 28, 199 P.3d at 605 (citations omitted). Because Western Union conceded that it was subject to the general jurisdiction of Arizona courts, the court of appeals held that the superior court could exercise in rem jurisdiction over transfers to Sonora from other states involving the proceeds of Arizona racketeering activities. Id. at 351 ¶ 33, 199 P.3d at 606. The court of appeals also held that the seizure warrant did not violate the Fourth Amendment or the Commerce Clause. Id. at 362, 366 ¶¶ 69, 84, 199 P.3d at 617, 621.

¶ 9 Western Union petitioned for review. We granted review on the issues of whether the superior court could constitutionally exercise in rem jurisdiction and whether the warrant violated the Commerce Clause, questions of statewide importance and first impression. See ARCAP 23(c). We have jurisdiction pursuant to Article 6, Section 5 of the Arizona Constitution, and A.R.S. § 12-120.24 (2003).

II.

¶ 10 We stress at the outset the narrow issue before us. The court of appeals held that the State had not established in personam jurisdiction over any owner or interest holder of any seized transfer. Western Union, 219 Ariz. at 346 ¶ 14, 199 P.3d at 601.² The State does not challenge that holding. Nor does it challenge the court of appeals' conclusion that, because the issue is whether the warrant could constitutionally authorize seizure of the money transfers, the case before us involves only the exercise of in rem jurisdiction. See id. at 346, 348 ¶¶ 14, 21, 199 P.3d at 601, 603.

¶ 11 The question today is therefore not whether the State can exercise in personam jurisdiction over Western Union. Because Western Union does not dispute that its activities in this state allow the exercise of general jurisdiction, id. at 346 ¶ 15, 199 P.3d at 601, the Due Process Clause permits the corporation to be sued in personam in Arizona for any reason. See Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia, S.A. v. Hall, 466 U.S. 408, 414, 104 S.Ct. 1868, 80 L.Ed.2d 404 (1984). Thus, the Fourteenth Amendment poses no bar to an Arizona court, after an appropriate showing, issuing in personam orders to Western Union governing the disposition of wire transfers involving the proceeds of racketeering conducted in this state. See also A.R.S. § 13-2314(C) (authorizing various orders before determination of liability in forfeiture actions).³

¶ 12 The issue before us is instead whether the superior court can properly exercise in rem jurisdiction over Western Union money transfers originating in other states and directed to Sonora, Mexico. It is to that issue that we therefore turn.

A.

¶ 13 The Supreme Court has long recognized that "principles of interstate federalism" dictate limits on the exercise of state court jurisdiction. World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286, 293, 100 S.Ct. 559, 62 L.Ed.2d 490 (1980); see also id. ("The sovereignty of each State ... implied a limitation on the sovereignty of all of its sister States—a limitation express or implicit in both the original scheme of the Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment."). The traditional framework for determining the constitutionality of the exercise of jurisdiction over persons and things was set forth in Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U.S. 714, 24 L.Ed. 565 (1877). Pennoyer held that state courts are constrained in exercising jurisdiction by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and adopted a distinctly territorial approach to establish the constitutional limits. The central inquiry under Pennoyer effectively was "Is it there?" In other words, the Court asked whether the defendant or property over which jurisdiction was sought was within the territorial boundaries of the state. Id. at 722 ("[N]o State can exercise direct jurisdiction and authority over persons or property without its territory."). Pennoyer also sanctioned the exercise of "quasi in rem" jurisdiction, under which the in-state property of a defendant could be seized to...