Williams v. Lakeview Co.

• Decision Date: 01 July 1999
• Docket Number: No. 1 CA-CV 98-0548.,1 CA-CV 98-0548.
• Citation: 990 P.2d 669,195 Ariz. 468
• Parties: Michelyn WILLIAMS and Kelly Williams, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. LAKEVIEW CO., a Nevada general partnership d/b/a Gold Strike Inn & Casino; David R. Belding, Partner; Michael S. Ensign, Partner; William A. Richardson, partner; David R. Belding and Jane Doe Belding, husband and wife; Michael S. Ensign and Jane Doe Ensign, husband and wife; William A. Richardson and Jane Doe Richardson, husband and wife, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: Arizona Court of Appeals

990 P.2d 669

195 Ariz. 468

Michelyn WILLIAMS and Kelly Williams, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. LAKEVIEW CO., a Nevada general partnership d/b/a Gold Strike Inn & Casino; David R. Belding, Partner; Michael S. Ensign, Partner; William A. Richardson, partner; David R. Belding and Jane Doe Belding, husband and wife; Michael S. Ensign and Jane Doe Ensign, husband and wife; William A. Richardson and Jane Doe Richardson, husband and wife, Defendants-Appellees.

No. -0548.

Court of Appeals of Arizona, Division 1, Department C.

July 1, 1999.

Review Granted January 4, 2000.

Law Offices of Keith S. Knochel, P.C. by Keith S. Knochel, Bullhead City, Attorneys for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

Jennings Strouss & Salmon by James M. Ackerman, David B. Earl and H. Christian Bode, Phoenix, Attorneys for Defendants-Appellees.

OPINION

BERCH, Judge.

¶ 1 Michelyn and Kelly Williams appeal from the trial court's dismissal of their complaint against Lakeview Company, which does business as the Gold Strike Inn, and other defendants (collectively, "Lakeview") for lack of personal jurisdiction. For the reasons explained below, we reverse.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2 Plaintiffs Kelly and Michelyn Williams, passengers in a car driven by Patrick Kelsey, sustained serious injuries in a single-car accident when returning from a trip to Defendant Lakeview's Gold Strike Inn and Casino in Nevada. Plaintiffs allege that the accident occurred because Casino employees overserved alcoholic beverages to Mr. Kelsey. All plaintiffs are Arizona residents and the accident occurred on U.S. Highway 93 in Mohave County, Arizona.

¶ 3 The Gold Strike Inn is located just a few miles from the Arizona/Nevada border. The Casino derives business advantage from its location as the first Casino Arizonans encounter when they cross the border, and considers its location a valuable business asset. Indeed, Lakeview regularly advertises in Arizona, both for individual customers and for tour operators to bus tourist groups to the Casino.¹ That advertising has proved successful: Each day, ten to fifteen tour buses stop at the Gold Strike Inn, bringing approximately 300 potential customers. Four to six buses each week come from Arizona, from cities such as Flagstaff, Prescott, Phoenix, and Lake Havasu City. Tour bus trade is an important part of the Casino's business. ¶ 4 Lakeview regularly runs a full-page advertisement in the Cerbat Gem, a newspaper that serves northwestern Mohave County, including the area in which plaintiffs reside. Lakeview acknowledges that each advertisement solicits the patronage of the Casino's "Arizona neighbors" and that it appreciates the business of its Arizona customers.

¶ 5 Defendants also rely on Arizona to help supply their work force; seventeen of defendants' employees reside in Arizona. Arizonans thus not only fill the Casino as customers, but help staff it as well. From January 26, 1997 to February 15, 1997, a period encompassing the February 8, 1997 accident, approximately twenty-three percent of the occupants of the Inn were Arizona residents; for the remainder of February, seventeen percent of the customers were Arizona residents.

¶ 6 Plaintiffs filed suit in Arizona. Defendants moved to dismiss, claiming that Arizona courts lack personal jurisdiction over them and that Nevada law, which would shield the Casino from liability, should apply to the case. The trial court agreed with Lakeview that jurisdiction was lacking and dismissed the case without ruling on the choice-of-law issue. Plaintiffs appealed.

DISCUSSION

Personal Jurisdiction

¶ 7 We review de novo a dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction, see A. Uberti and C. v. Leonardo, 181 Ariz. 565, 569, 892 P.2d 1354, 1358 (1995),

accepting as true all material facts alleged by the non-movant. See G.T. Helicopters, Inc. v. Helicopters, Ltd., 135 Ariz. 380, 382, 661 P.2d 230, 232 (App.1983).

¶ 8 Arizona's long-arm statute is very broad and is intended to allow Arizona courts to exert personal jurisdiction over a non-resident litigant to the maximum extent permitted by the Constitution of the United States. See Houghton v. Piper Aircraft Corp., 112 Ariz. 365, 367, 542 P.2d 24, 26 (1975)

; see also Ariz. R. Civ. P. 4.2(a); Uberti,

181 Ariz. at 569,

892 P.2d at 1358. Consequently, we need only address constitutional limitations imposed by the Due Process Clause. See Batton v. Tennessee Farmers Mut. Ins. Co., 153 Ariz. 268, 270, 736 P.2d 2, 4 (1987); see also Stuart v. Spademan, 772 F.2d 1185, 1189 (5th Cir.1985) (if a state's long-arm rule extends to the limits of due process, the court need only inquire whether asserting jurisdiction is constitutionally permissible).

¶ 9 The Due Process Clause of the federal constitution limits a state's power to exercise jurisdiction over non-resident defendants who have "no contacts, ties, or relations" with the forum state, see International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 319, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945),

and requires that the defendants have sufficient contacts with the state to make it fair to subject them to the jurisdiction of the state's courts. See Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia v. Hall, 466 U.S. 408, 413-14, 104 S.Ct. 1868, 80 L.Ed.2d 404 (1984) (defendant must have substantial or continuous and systematic contacts with the forum to support general jurisdiction). Two separate but interrelated factors govern the exercise of personal jurisdiction: (1) the defendants' contacts with Arizona and (2) the reasonableness of exercising jurisdiction over the Nevada defendants. See Uberti,

181 Ariz. at 569,

892 P.2d at 1358 (citing Asahi Metal Indus. v. Superior Court, 480 U.S. 102, 107 S.Ct. 1026, 94 L.Ed.2d 92 (1987)).

¶ 10 If the quantity and quality of a defendant's contacts with the forum state are sufficient, a state may constitutionally assert either general or specific jurisdiction over a foreign defendant. General jurisdiction subjects a defendant to suit on virtually any claim within the court's competence, even those that do not arise out of or relate to the defendant's forum-related activities, see Batton, 153 Ariz. at 270,

736 P.2d at 4, but applies only when the defendant has "substantial" or "continuous and systematic" contacts with the forum state. Id.

¶ 11 We accept as true plaintiffs' assertion that Lakeview regularly advertised in a local Arizona newspaper, the Cerbat Gem, soliciting Arizona residents to visit its Nevada Casino, that a substantial number of Lakeview's customers were Arizona residents, that Lakeview employed seventeen Arizona residents at its Casino in Nevada, and that Lakeview actively solicited Arizona tour bus companies to bring passengers to its Casino. We conclude, however, that these activities are not sufficiently "substantial" or "continuous and systematic" to confer general jurisdiction over Lakeview. See Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 475, 487, 105 S.Ct. 2174, 85 L.Ed.2d 528 (1985)

; see also Westphal v. Mace, 671 F.Supp. 665, 667 (D.Ariz.1987) (although defendant advertised in Arizona, sponsored travel packages through Arizona travel agents, and published a toll-free phone number in Arizona phone directories, general jurisdiction over defendant did not exist for lawsuit on Nevada accident). Lakeview did not regularly conduct business in Arizona, nor did it have any agents, offices, property, or other physical presence within Arizona. Thus, Lakeview's contacts with Arizona are not sufficiently substantial or continuous and systematic to support the assertion of general jurisdiction.

¶ 12 Instead, we focus on specific jurisdiction, which allows a state to exercise jurisdiction over a foreign defendant when the cause of action arose in the forum state; the defendant caused the event to occur in the forum state or has purposefully availed itself of the privilege of conducting business in the forum, thereby invoking the benefits and protections of its laws; and the exercise of jurisdiction comports with fair play and substantial justice and therefore satisfies the due process rights secured by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. See Uberti, 181 Ariz. at 569, 892 P.2d at 1358 (citing Maloof v. Raper Sales, Inc., 113 Ariz. 485, 487, 557 P.2d 522, 524 (1976)). In determining whether the exercise of personal jurisdiction would violate the defendant's due process rights, we consider the defendant's "minimum contacts" with the forum state, and the reasonableness of exercising jurisdiction over the defendant. Uberti, 181 Ariz. at 569, 892 P.2d at 1358 (citing Asahi, 480 U.S. at 112-13, 107 S.Ct. 1026).

¶ 13 Some cases set forth as a separate element the requirement that the claim must "arise out of or relate to" the defendant's activities in the forum. See, e.g., Helicopteros, 466 U.S. at 414,

104 S.Ct. 1868; Armstrong v. Aramco Servs. Co., 155 Ariz. 345, 349, 746 P.2d 917, 921 (App.1987). Other cases have required this connection to the forum state, but without setting it forth as a separate prong of the test. See Batton, 153 Ariz. at 271,

736 P.2d at 5 (in determining whether specific jurisdiction exists, "the minimum contacts inquiry focuses on the relationship between the defendant, the forum, and the litigation"). In any event, jurisdiction is appropriate if the "defendant's conduct and connection with the forum state are such that [it] should reasonably anticipate being haled into court there," id. (quoting World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286, 297, 100 S.Ct. 559, 62 L.Ed.2d 490 (1980)) (emphasis omitted), and the defendant has "`purposefully directed' [its] activities at residents of the forum." Hoskinson v. California, 168 Ariz. 250, 253, 812 P.2d 1068, 1070 (App.1990) (quoting Burger King, 471 U.S. at 472,

105 S.Ct. 2174). Accordingly, we first must determine whether Lakeview "purposefully created contacts" with Arizona, see Batton, 153 Ariz. at 271,

736 P.2d at 5, or purposefully directed its activities at residents of...