State v. Atlantic Richfield Co.,2016 VT 22 (filed February 12, 2016)
REIBER, C.J.This interlocutory appeal requires us to examine the contours of the "stream-of-commerce" doctrine of personal jurisdiction, which was introduced by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1980 decision but later divided the Court with respect to its scope. Defendant Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA, Inc. (TPRI) challenges a decision of the superior court, civil division, denying its motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, a complaint alleging that TPRI, along with twenty-eight other defendants, contaminated the waters of the state by introducing into those waters a gas additive called methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). We affirm.
The superior court "has discretion to decide a pretrial motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction on the basis of affidavits alone, to permit discovery, and to conduct an evidentiary hearing." Godino v. Cleanthes, 163 Vt. 237, 239, 656 A.2d 991, 992 (1995). If, as in this case, "a court chooses to rule on a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction on the basis of affidavits alone, the party opposing [the] motion need make only a prima facie showing of jurisdiction, or, in other words, demonstrate facts which would support a finding of jurisdiction." Id. The nonmoving party's prima facie showing must go beyond the pleadings and rely upon specific facts set forth in the record. Schwartz v. Frankenhoff, 169 Vt. 287, 295, 733 A.2d 74, 81 (1999). "In assessing the submitted materials, the [trial] court eschews fact finding and simply accepts properly supported proffers of evidence as true and rules on the jurisdictional question as a matter of law." Id.
The crux of TPRI's argument on appeal is that recent controlling U.S. Supreme Court case law-specifically J. McIntyre Mach., Ltd. v. Nicastro, 564 U.S. 1058, 131 S. Ct. 2780 (2011) and Walden v. Fiore, ___ U.S. ___, 134 S. Ct. 1115 (2014)-preclude Vermont courts from exercising personal jurisdiction over it in this case. According to TPRI, those cases stand for the propositions, respectively, that a defendant cannot be subjected to personal jurisdiction based on either the mere foreseeability that its product will end up in the subject forum or the unilateral conduct of third parties. We conclude that the governing law permits the exercise of personal jurisdiction in Vermont under the circumstances of this case.
Although "`foreseeability'" alone has never been a sufficient benchmark for personal jurisdiction under the Due Process Clause," it is not "wholly irrelevant." World-Wide Volkswagen, 444 U.S. at 295, 297. "[T]he foreseeability that is critical to due process analysis is not the mere likelihood that a product will find its way into the forum State," but rather "that the defendant's conduct and connection with the forum State are such that he should reasonably anticipate being haled into court there." Id. at 297. Therefore, "[t]he forum State does not exceed its powers under the Due Process Clause if it asserts personal jurisdiction over a corporation that delivers its products into the stream of commerce with the expectation that they will be purchased by consumers in the forum State." World-Wide Volkswagen, 444 U.S. at 297-98
World-Wide Volkswagen's stream-of-commerce analysis is the governing law on the stream-of-commerce doctrine, given the failure of the competing factions on the U.S. Supreme Court since that decision to garner a majority of votes to limit or expand the doctrine. Accordingly, we reject TPRI's argument that both the plurality and concurring opinions in McIntyre preclude the exercise of personal jurisdiction over a defendant based solely on the defendant's introduction of its product into a national distribution system aimed at bringing the product into the forum state among others. Given the facts of this case as they have been developed thus far, we conclude that the superior court did not err in denying TPRI's motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.
REIBER, C.J.This interlocutory appeal requires us to examine the contours of the "stream-of-commerce" doctrine of personal jurisdiction, which was introduced by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1980 decision but later divided the Court with respect to its scope. Defendant Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA, Inc. (TPRI) challenges a decision of the superior court, civil division, denying its motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, a complaint alleging that TPRI, along with twenty-eight other defendants, contaminated the waters of the state by introducing into those waters a gas additive called methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). We affirm.
The superior court "has discretion to decide a pretrial motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction on the basis of affidavits alone, to permit discovery, and to conduct an evidentiary hearing." Godino v. Cleanthes, 163 Vt. 237, 239, 656 A.2d 991, 992 (1995). If, as in this case, "a court chooses to rule on a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction on the basis of affidavits alone, the party opposing [the] motion need make only a prima facie showing of jurisdiction, or, in other words, demonstrate facts which would support a finding of jurisdiction." Id. The nonmoving party's prima facie showing must go beyond the pleadings and rely upon specific facts set forth in the record. Schwartz v. Frankenhoff, 169 Vt. 287, 295, 733 A.2d 74, 81 (1999). "In assessing the submitted materials, the [trial] court eschews fact finding and simply accepts properly supported proffers of evidence as true and rules on the jurisdictional question as a matter of law." Id.
The crux of TPRI's argument on appeal is that recent controlling U.S. Supreme Court case law-specifically J. McIntyre Mach., Ltd. v. Nicastro, 564 U.S. 1058, 131 S. Ct. 2780 (2011) and Walden v. Fiore, ___ U.S. ___, 134 S. Ct. 1115 (2014)-preclude Vermont courts from exercising personal jurisdiction over it in this case. According to TPRI, those cases stand for the propositions, respectively, that a defendant cannot be subjected to personal jurisdiction based on either the mere foreseeability that its product will end up in the subject forum or the unilateral conduct of third parties. We conclude that the governing law permits the exercise of personal jurisdiction in Vermont under the circumstances of this case.
Although "`foreseeability'" alone has never been a sufficient benchmark for personal jurisdiction under the Due Process Clause," it is not "wholly irrelevant." World-Wide Volkswagen, 444 U.S. at 295, 297. "[T]he foreseeability that is critical to due process analysis is not the mere likelihood that a product will find its way into the forum State," but rather "that the defendant's conduct and connection with the forum State are such that he should reasonably anticipate being haled into court there." Id. at 297. Therefore, "[t]he forum State does not exceed its powers under the Due Process Clause if it asserts personal jurisdiction over a corporation that delivers its products into the stream of commerce with the expectation that they will be purchased by consumers in the forum State." World-Wide Volkswagen, 444 U.S. at 297-98
World-Wide Volkswagen's stream-of-commerce analysis is the governing law on the stream-of-commerce doctrine, given the failure of the competing factions on the U.S. Supreme Court since that decision to garner a majority of votes to limit or expand the doctrine. Accordingly, we reject TPRI's argument that both the plurality and concurring opinions in McIntyre preclude the exercise of personal jurisdiction over a defendant based solely on the defendant's introduction of its product into a national distribution system aimed at bringing the product into the forum state among others. Given the facts of this case as they have been developed thus far, we conclude that the superior court did not err in denying TPRI's motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.
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