Sandra Waite v. AII Acquisition Corp.
Opinion
While living in Massachusetts, James Waite was exposed repeatedly to asbestos, some of which was mined and sold by Union Carbide Corporation. More than twenty-five years after his initial asbestos exposure, Mr. Waite moved to Florida, where he was diagnosed with mesothelioma. Mr. Waite and his wife, Sandra Waite, filed a lawsuit in Florida state court against a group of defendants that included Union Carbide. The Waites alleged that the defendants negligently failed to warn users of the health hazards of asbestos and defectively designed their products. After Union Carbide removed the case to federal district court, the district court determined that it lacked personal jurisdiction over Union Carbide.
On appeal, the Waites argue that the district court erred in dismissing Union Carbide for lack of personal jurisdiction because the court properly could exercise both specific jurisdiction and general jurisdiction *1311 over Union Carbide. We disagree. Union Carbide is not subject to specific jurisdiction because the Waites cannot show that their claims arise out of Union Carbide's contacts with Florida. Nor is Union Carbide subject to general jurisdiction because there is no evidence that Union Carbide is at home in Florida. After careful consideration, and with the benefit of oral argument, we affirm the district court's order dismissing Union Carbide for lack of personal jurisdiction.
I. BACKGROUND
The basic facts of this case are undisputed.
For much of his life, Mr. Waite lived in Massachusetts, where he worked at several jobs that exposed him to asbestos. When renovating apartment units in the late 1960s, he was exposed to a joint compound that contained asbestos mined and sold by Union Carbide. Union Carbide never warned Mr. Waite about the hazards of exposure to asbestos. In 1978, Mr. Waite moved to Florida. There, he continued to be exposed to asbestos while working with automotive parts. The Waites do not contend, however, that the asbestos to which he was exposed in Florida was mined or sold by Union Carbide.
In 2015, Mr. Waite was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, a rare, fatal cancer, the only known environmental cause of which is exposure to asbestos. Exposure to asbestos can cause genetic errors in cells lining the lungs, known as mesothelial cells. When these mutations accumulate, uncontrolled cell growth can lead to a deadly tumor. Repeated exposure to asbestos increases the risk of contracting mesothelioma ; it is impossible to exclude any particular exposure from the causal chain leading to development of the disease. The disease's cumulative nature also results in long latency periods between a patient's first exposure to asbestos and the disease's presentation, sometimes spanning several decades. Mr. Waite's medical treatment, including his surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, all has taken place in Florida.
Following Mr. Waite's diagnosis with mesothelioma, the Waites filed suit in Florida state court against Union Carbide and nine other defendants. 1 Alleging that each defendant had mined, processed, supplied, manufactured, or distributed products containing asbestos that caused Mr. Waite's disease, the Waites asserted claims for negligent failure to warn and strict liability for defective design. Union Carbide removed the case to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
In district court, Union Carbide filed a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction on the ground that Union Carbide was incorporated in New York and maintained its principal place of business in Texas. In response, the Waites relied on evidence that revealed the following about Union Carbide's business activities in Florida: Union Carbide registered for the right to conduct business in Florida in 1949 and maintains a registered agent to receive service of process in the state. It began selling asbestos in 1963 to product manufacturers. During the 1960s, it made plans to build and operate a shipping terminal in Tampa. By 1973, Union Carbide sold about 50% of the asbestos used in joint compounds nationwide and had hired a distributor in Florida to sell its asbestos. Union Carbide had asbestos customers based in Florida, and it operated a plant in Brevard County, Florida. When the public increasingly became concerned about the health consequences of exposure to asbestos, Union Carbide discussed undertaking a public relations campaign that would include a seminar in Florida. The Waites also offered *1312 evidence that Union Carbide has been sued by other plaintiffs in Florida, including in asbestos-related cases, and has itself brought lawsuits in Florida.
After considering this evidence, the district court initially denied Union Carbide's motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, determining that Florida courts could assert general jurisdiction over the company. Upon Union Carbide's motion for reconsideration, the district court concluded that it lacked general jurisdiction over Union Carbide, but that the company was subject to specific jurisdiction. Following a second motion for reconsideration, the district court concluded that it lacked both general and specific jurisdiction over Union Carbide. The Waites appealed.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
We review
de novo
the decision of a district court to dismiss a complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction.
Carmouche v. Tamborlee Mgmt., Inc.
,
III. DISCUSSION
A federal court sitting in diversity undertakes a two-step inquiry to determine whether personal jurisdiction exists.
Carmouche
,
Florida's long-arm statute provides two ways in which a defendant may be subject to the jurisdiction of the state's courts.
Whether specific or general, the exercise of personal jurisdiction over a defendant must comport with due process. The touchstone of this analysis is whether the defendant has "certain minimum contacts with [the state] such that the maintenance of the suit does not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice."
Int'l Shoe Co. v. Washington
,
Even where neither the forum state's long-arm statute nor the due process minimum contacts analysis is satisfied, a court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a party if the party consents. "[A] litigant may give express or implied consent to the personal jurisdiction of the court."
Burger King Corp.
,
The Waites argue that there are three ways in which the district court could properly exercise personal jurisdiction over Union Carbide in this case. First, they argue that the exercise of specific jurisdiction is appropriate based on Union Carbide's activities in Florida that gave rise to the causes of action they allege. Second, they argue that the district court could exercise general jurisdiction over Union Carbide based on the company's substantial contacts with Florida. Third, they argue that Union Carbide consented to general personal jurisdiction in Florida by complying with various Florida statutes governing foreign businesses. We consider each of these arguments in turn.
A. The District Court Properly Determined that Exercising Specific Jurisdiction Over Union Carbide Would Violate Due Process.
With respect to specific personal jurisdiction, the district court initially determined that such jurisdiction was appropriate under both the Florida long-arm statute and the dictates of due process. Upon reconsideration of its order as to specific jurisdiction, the district court left undisturbed its determination that the exercise of jurisdiction comported with the state's long-arm statute, but it decided that due process had not been satisfied. Because we agree with the district court that exercising specific jurisdiction over Union Carbide would not comport with due process, we do not address whether the requirements of Florida's long-arm statute would be met.
To determine whether the exercise of specific jurisdiction affords due process, we apply a three-part test.
See
Louis Vuitton Malletier, S.A. v. Mosseri
,
1. Union Carbide's Contacts with Florida Must Be a But-For Cause of the Torts the Waites Allege.
Applying the first prong of the three-part test, we must decide whether
*1314
the Waites' claims arise out of or relate to one of Union Carbide's contacts with Florida. To do so, we look to the "affiliation between the forum and the underlying controversy," focusing on any "activity or ... occurrence that [took] place in the forum State."
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court
, --- U.S. ----,
The Waites argue that a but-for causal relationship between the defendant's contacts and the tortious conduct is unnecessary because the Supreme Court has never imposed such a requirement. In support of their argument, the Waites point to two Supreme Court cases addressing specific jurisdiction.
In the first case,
Walden
, two passengers filed a lawsuit in Nevada against a law enforcement officer who stopped them in the airport in Atlanta and seized from them nearly $100,000 in cash.
In the second case,
Bristol-Myers Squibb
, a group of plaintiffs, including many with no connection to California, filed a tort action in California state court seeking damages from injuries caused by a drug the defendant manufactured.
*1315
We agree with the Waites that the Supreme Court imposed no explicit but-for causation requirement in either
Walden
or
Bristol-Myers Squibb
. But neither did the Supreme Court reject such a requirement, nor is either opinion inconsistent with one. To the extent these intervening Supreme Court opinions may cast doubt upon our prior panel precedent through their silence regarding a but-for causation requirement, "we are not at liberty to disregard binding case law that is so closely on point and has been only weakened, rather than directly overruled, by the Supreme Court."
Fla. League of Prof'l Lobbyists, Inc. v. Meggs
,
2. Union Carbide's Conduct in Florida Was Not a But-For Cause of the Waites' Claims.
The Waites cannot establish that their claims arise out of or relate to Union Carbide's contacts in Florida because none of those contacts is a but-for cause of the torts the Waites allege. Their complaint alleges that Union Carbide: negligently failed to warn its users of the dangers of asbestos, defectively designed its products, and failed to use reasonable care in distributing its products. But the contacts upon which the Waites rely to establish specific jurisdiction-Union Carbide's discussion about holding a seminar in Florida, its plant in Brevard County, and its sales in Florida-have nothing to do with the torts Union Carbide allegedly committed. The Waites do not allege, for example, that the asbestos to which Mr. Waite was exposed in Massachusetts was designed at the Brevard County plant. There is no allegation that the seminar Union Carbide discussed in 1975 contributed to its failure to warn Mr. Waite prior to his exposure in Massachusetts-which had occurred more than a decade earlier-or its continuing failure to warn him when he moved to Florida in 1978. And the Waites do not allege that Mr. Waite was ever exposed to any of Union Carbide's asbestos in Florida. They thus fall short of establishing that Union Carbide's contacts were the but-for cause of the torts they allege, which is fatal to the district court's exercise of specific personal jurisdiction.
The Waites nevertheless argue that personal jurisdiction obtains in Florida because mesothelioma develops slowly, and so they did not suffer any legal injury until they arrived in Florida, where Mr. Waite was diagnosed. Mr. Waite's diagnosis, they argue, provides the necessary link between the forum state and the tortious conduct. But even accepting that Mr. Waite's legal injury occurred in Florida because he was diagnosed there, the Supreme Court has rejected attempts to establish personal jurisdiction based solely on a plaintiff's injury in the forum. In
Walden
, the defendant
*1316
law enforcement officer allegedly submitted a false affidavit to justify unlawfully seizing and continuing to withhold funds from the plaintiffs, whom he knew lived in Nevada.
The Waites also argue that Union Carbide had an ongoing duty to warn Mr. Waite of the threat of harm from asbestos that continued after he moved to Florida. Following Mr. Waite's exposure to Union Carbide's asbestos in Massachusetts, they argue, Union Carbide was obligated to warn him that he should avoid future exposure. Thus, they say, the tortious conduct occurred in Florida as well as in Massachusetts. But even assuming that Union Carbide had a continuing duty to warn after Mr. Waite's exposure to Union Carbide's asbestos in Massachusetts, the failure to do so cannot be the basis for specific jurisdiction because such a result would impermissibly allow the plaintiffs' choices-rather than the defendant's contacts-"to drive the jurisdictional analysis."
Id. at 289,
Accepting the Waites' argument would mean that Union Carbide would have failed to warn Mr. Waite "in California, Mississippi, or wherever else [he] might have traveled," like the passengers in
Walden
.
Id. at 290,
B. The District Court Properly Determined that Exercising General Jurisdiction Over Union Carbide Would Violate Due Process.
Having decided that exercising specific jurisdiction over Union Carbide would violate due process, we now consider whether the district court could properly exercise general jurisdiction over Union Carbide. Because Florida's long-arm provision "extends to the limits on personal jurisdiction imposed by the Due Process Clause," we "need only determine whether the district court's exercise of jurisdiction over [Union Carbide] would exceed constitutional bounds."
Carmouche
,
The Waites make two arguments for the exercise of general jurisdiction. First, they argue that because Union Carbide registered to conduct business in Florida and conducted "ongoing intrastate business there," due process is satisfied. Appellants' Br. at 56. Second, they argue that regardless of whether Union Carbide's contacts with Florida permit the state's courts to *1317 exercise general jurisdiction, Union Carbide consented to Florida courts' general jurisdiction by complying with certain Florida statutes governing foreign businesses. Below we address each of these arguments.
1. Union Carbide Is Not "At Home" in Florida.
"A court may assert general jurisdiction over foreign (sister-state or foreign-country) corporations," without offending due process "when their affiliations with the State are so 'continuous and systematic' as to render them essentially at home in the forum State."
Goodyear
,
The facts of
Daimler
illustrate the heavy burden of establishing such an exceptional case. There, the Court held that Daimler, a German corporation, was not subject to general jurisdiction in California based on the California contacts of Daimler's subsidiary, Mercedes-Benz USA ("MBUSA").
Daimler
, 571 U.S. at 136,
In rejecting the exercise of general jurisdiction over Daimler, the Supreme Court offered an example of an "exceptional case" in which general jurisdiction might be appropriate outside of one of the paradigm forums.
Against this backdrop, we must determine whether Union Carbide may be regarded as at home in Florida. As in
Daimler
, neither of the paradigms apply here: Union Carbide is incorporated in New York, and its principal place of business is in Texas. Our task, then, is to decide whether this is one of the exceptional
*1318
cases in which a federal court's exercise of general jurisdiction may be proper outside of the paradigm places where a corporation is at home. To make this decision, we must consider whether "the corporation's activities in the forum closely approximate the activities that ordinarily characterize a corporation's place of incorporation or principal place of business."
Carmouche
,
The Waites argue that Union Carbide is at home in Florida based on the following contacts: Union Carbide had a distributor in Florida, along with several Florida customers. It once discussed holding a seminar in Florida to combat the public's concerns about the health effects of asbestos. It registered to do business in Florida in 1949, and it maintains an agent to receive service of process there. As for its physical presence, Union Carbide built a plant in the state and discussed building a shipping terminal there. We disagree with the Waites that these activities establish that Union Carbide was at home in Florida. Unlike in
Perkins
, Florida was not "a surrogate" place of incorporation or principal place of business for Union Carbide; the Waites do not allege that Union Carbide's leadership was based in Florida or that the company otherwise directed its operations from Florida.
See
Daimler
, 571 U.S. at 130 n.8,
We also reject the Waites' argument that Union Carbide's registration to do business and its maintenance of an agent for service of process in Florida render Union Carbide at home there. Even before the Supreme Court's decision in
Daimler
, this Court held that a defendant's appointment of an agent for service of process in a state did not confer general jurisdiction over a defendant there.
See
Consol. Dev. Corp. v. Sherritt, Inc.
,
Because Union Carbide's contacts in Florida do not "closely approximate the activities that ordinarily characterize a corporation's place of incorporation or principal place of business," we conclude that the exercise of general jurisdiction over Union Carbide in Florida would violate due process.
Carmouche
,
2. Florida's Business Registration Scheme Does Not Establish that Union Carbide Consented to Florida Courts' General Jurisdiction.
Lastly, the Waites argue that even if Union Carbide's contacts with Florida do not subject it to general jurisdiction, the company consented to the Florida courts' general jurisdiction when it registered *1319 to do business and appointed an agent to receive service of process in Florida. Again, we are unpersuaded. The Waites offer no authority establishing that by complying with Florida's registration scheme for foreign businesses, a corporation consents to jurisdiction in Florida for any purpose. Given the lack of authority to support the Waites' position, we reject the exercise of general personal jurisdiction based on such implied consent.
To establish that Union Carbide consented to general jurisdiction in Florida, the Waites rely on the Supreme Court's 1917 decision in
Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Co. of Philadelphia v. Gold Issue Mining & Milling Co.
,
The Court considered a similar issue a few years later in
Robert Mitchell Furniture Co. v. Selden Breck Construction Co.
,
[u]nless the state law [requiring appointment of an agent] either expressly or by local construction gives to the appointment a larger scope, we should not construe it to extend to suits in respect of business transacted by the foreign corporation elsewhere, at least if begun, as this was, when the long previous appointment of the agent is the only ground for imputing to the defendant an even technical presence.
To determine whether Union Carbide consented to general jurisdiction, we thus begin by looking at Florida law. The Waites argue that a number of statutory provisions establish Union Carbide's consent to general jurisdiction. First, they point to Florida's statutory scheme governing service on foreign corporations. Florida Statutes § 48.091 requires every foreign corporation that transacts business *1320 in Florida to "designate a registered agent and registered office in accordance with part I of chapter 607." Florida Statutes § 607.15101(1) in turn provides that a foreign corporation's registered agent "is the corporation's agent for service of process, notice, or demand required or permitted by law to be served on the foreign corporation." Finally, Florida Statutes § 48.081 provides that "process may be served on the agent designated by the corporation under § 48.091."
Turning first to the text of the statutes, nothing in these provisions' plain language indicates that a foreign corporation that has appointed an agent to receive service of process consents to general jurisdiction in Florida.
See
Allen v. USAA Cas. Ins. Co.
,
The Waites argue that
White v. Pepsico
,
The Florida Supreme Court answered that question in the affirmative, holding that its courts could exercise personal jurisdiction over the defendant after personal service had been effected on the corporation's agent.
White
,
From our review of Florida case law, it appears that only one reported case directly addressed the consent argument the Waites make here. In that case,
Magwitch, LLC v. Pusser's West Indies, Ltd.
,
Magwitch
is not inconsistent with a Florida Supreme Court decision handed down a few years earlier than
Magwitch
but long after
White.
In
Ulloa v. CMI, Inc.
,
In rejecting Ulloa's argument, the Court distinguished between service of process and personal jurisdiction, explaining that they are "different but related legal concept[s]."
The Waites also point to a Florida statute that the Florida courts did not consider in White , Ulloa , or Magwitch . Section 607.1505 authorizes a foreign corporation with a certificate of authority to transact business in Florida. It also provides:
A foreign corporation with a valid certificate of authority has the same but no greater rights and has the same but no greater privileges as, and ... is subject to the same duties, restrictions, penalties, and liabilities now or later imposed on, a domestic corporation of like character.
The Waites thus have failed to convince us that Florida law "either expressly or by local construction" establishes that a foreign corporation's registration to do business and appointment of an agent for service of process in Florida amounts to its consent to general jurisdiction in the Florida courts.
See
*1322
Robert Mitchell
,
IV. CONCLUSION
We affirm the order of the district court dismissing the Waites' complaint against Union Carbide for lack of personal jurisdiction.
AFFIRMED .
The remaining nine defendants have been dismissed from this case.
Because we conclude that the plaintiffs' claims do not arise out of or relate to at least one of Union Carbide's contacts with Florida, we need not address whether Union Carbide purposefully availed itself of the privilege of conducting activities in Florida or whether the exercise of jurisdiction would violate traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.
We note that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applies to the exercise of specific jurisdiction in this case, but both
Oldfield
and
Fraser
considered whether specific jurisdiction was appropriate under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(k)(2), governed by the Due Process Clause of the
Fifth
Amendment. As we explained in
Oldfield
, however, the "language and policy considerations of the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments are virtually identical."
Ulloa
was a consolidated appeal involving three criminal defendants who sought to compel the same out-of-state corporation to produce documents that they planned to use in moving to suppress certain evidence.
See
Ulloa
,
We note that some courts, including the Second Circuit, have questioned the continuing validity of
Pennsylvania Fire
insofar as it supports a "sweeping interpretation that a state court gave to a routine registration statute and an accompanying power of attorney ... as ... general consent."
Brown
,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- James John WAITE, Jr., Plaintiff, Sandra Waite, in Her Capacity as the Personal Representative of the Estate of John Waite, Jr., Plaintiff - Appellant, v. ALL ACQUISITION CORP., F.K.A. Holland Furnace, A.K.A. Allegheny Technologies, Ford Motor Company, Union Carbide Corporation, Defendants - Appellees, Borg-Warner Corporation, Et Al., Defendants.
- Cited By
- 110 cases
- Status
- Published