Walters v. St. Elizabeth Hosp. Medical Center, Civ. A. No. 81-1827.
| Decision Date | 25 March 1982 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 81-1827. |
| Citation | 543 F. Supp. 559 |
| Parties | Jean WALTERS and Russell Walters, her husband, Plaintiffs, v. ST. ELIZABETH HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
Richard G. Spagnolli, Pittsburgh, Pa., for plaintiffs.
Patrick R. Riley, Pittsburgh, Pa., for defendant.
In this diversity case, the plaintiffs allege that injuries to the wife plaintiff's right hand and arm were caused by the negligence of the defendant hospital in Ohio. The hospital moves to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. It is our opinion that the action should be transferred to the Northern District of Ohio. 28 U.S.C. § 1406.
The plaintiffs are citizens of Pennsylvania residing in New Castle, Pennsylvania. The hospital is located in Youngstown, Ohio. Over the past five years, many residents of Sharon and New Castle, Pennsylvania, were treated at the hospital for outpatient care, some being referred by Pennsylvania physicians. Likewise, many Pennsylvania residents from that area were treated at the hospital for inpatient care. All of them were admitted by physicians who were on the staff of the hospital.
The Sharon or New Castle area of Pennsylvania is designated by the hospital as a "tertiary area of service."
The Ohio hospital did not and does not advertise its services in Pennsylvania; neither has the hospital ever solicited business in Pennsylvania, nor has it ever sent agents into Pennsylvania to induce patients to come to the hospital for inpatient or outpatient treatment. The hospital never has discouraged Pennsylvania patients from coming to the hospital for treatment in Ohio.
It may be inferred that the burden on the hospital located in an adjacent state of defending this action in Pittsburgh approximately 90 miles distant would be slight. However, in Hanson v. Denckla, 357 U.S. 235, 251, 78 S.Ct. 1228, 1238, 2 L.Ed.2d 1283 (1958) it is stated:
Pennsylvania did not regulate nor attempt to regulate the conduct of the Ohio hospital; it has no de facto power over the hospital. All the treatment and services performed by the hospital take place in Ohio; no treatment or services rendered to patients are performed in Pennsylvania. The plaintiffs' residence in Pennsylvania is not by itself sufficient to sustain jurisdictional power over the dispute under the due process clause contained in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Pennsylvania's assertion of jurisdiction...
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