ORDER
This mаtter comes before the court on Defendant Fox Five One Ltd., Inc.’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction (# 12). Plaintiffs opposed (# 14) and defendant replied (# 16). Also pending before the court is plaintiffs’ request for oral argument on the defendant’s motion to dismiss (# 17).
I. Background
This products liability case arises out of the crash of an aircraft while engaged in simulated aerial combat. The deceased, Robert J. Abraham, was a pilot employed by Desert Aces L.L.C. (“Desert Aces”), a Nevada company engaged in the business of taking non-pilots into simulated aerial combat. On December 3, 1994, Robert J. Abraham and his non-pilot passenger were killed when the aircraft they were piloting crashed outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. The aircraft, a SIAI Marchetti SF260C (Registration No. N58FD), was manufactured by SIAI Marehetti, S.p.A. (“Marchetti”), an Italian corporation with its primary place of business in Italy. According to the chain-of-title submitted by the plaintiffs, Marchetti sold the aircraft to Defendant Fox Five One Ltd., Inc. (“Fox Five”) sometime in 1983. Fox Five is a Texas corporation engaged in the business of selling and maintaining retail aircraft. Fox’s principal place of business is in the State of Texas. A review of the chain-of-title also indicates that Fox Five initially sold the aircraft at issue within the State of Texas and then repurchased the aircraft from the same buyer. Thereafter, on or about April 1, 1992, Fox Five sold the aircraft to Fighter Pilots USA, Inc. (“Fighter Pilots USA”), a company locаted in Tampa, Florida and presumably also engaged in the business of simulated aerial combat. On or about June 14, 1994, Fighter Pilots USA sold the aircraft to Desert Aces. The crash giving rise to the instant action occurred while the aircraft was owned by Desert Aces.
This action was initiated by the plaintiffs who are the heirs of the deceased pilot. In their complaint, the plaintiffs allege several causes of action against multiple defendants, including the aircraft’s manufacturer and rеtail distributor, based on theories of strict products liability and negligence. Essentially, plaintiffs allege that the crash occurred when the passenger with whom Robert Abraham was flying took control of the aircraft and induced the aircraft into a flat-spin, causing the aircraft to impact the desert floor. The complaint further alleges that the defendants are liable for Robert Abraham’s death for designing, marketing and selling the aircraft: (1) without there being incorporated into the aircraft a means by which the pilot-in-command could isolate control inputs from the non-pilot passenger and take independent control of the aircraft, and (2) means to avoid or recover the aircraft from a flat-spin.
II. Analysis
Because this court will confine the personal jurisdiction determination to the parties’ pre-trial motions and affidavits, plaintiffs are required to make only a
prima facie
showing of the jurisdictional facts to prevail over Fox Five’s motion to dismiss.
Data Disc, Inc. v. Systems Technology
As
soc’s, Inc., 557
F.2d 1280, 1285 (9th Cir.1977). Where a federal court sits in diversity, the exercise of personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant turns on two
independent
inquiries: (1) whether an applicable state statute (e.g., long-arm statute) potentially confers personal jurisdiction over the defendant, and (2) whether the exercise of personal jurisdiction over the defendant comports with the defendant’s constitutional due process rights.
Data Disc,
A. Nevada’s Products Liability Long-arm Statute
As to the first inquiry, plaintiffs assert that personal jurisdiction is conferred by N.R.S. § 14.080, Nevada’s products liability long-arm statute, which governs service of process on foreign manufacturers, producers and suppliers of products. The defendant essentially argues that it is not a manufacturer and, therefore, not the type of defendant envisioned by the products liability statute. The statute provides in pertinent part:
Any ... corporation ... created and existing under the laws of another state ... which manufactures, produces, makes, markets or otherwise supplies directly or indirectly any product for distribution, sale or use in this state may be lawfully served with any legal process in any action to recover damages for injury to person or property resulting from such distribution, sale or use in this state....
N.R.S. § 14.080(1). This court is bound by the interpretation given to § 14.080 by the Nevada Supreme Court.
See Greenspun v. Del E. Webb Corp.,
The Nevada Supreme Court has given a broad interpretation to § 14.080. In
Metal-Matic, Inc. v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court,
In Metal-Matic, Nevada Supreme Court ultimately found that § 14.080 conferred personal jurisdiction over the defendant, stating:
Where it is reasonably foreseeable that a product will enter the flow of commerce, the manufacturers of that product can expect to be sued in any state where the product is alleged to have caused the injury. This is without regard to how many hands have touched the product from its production to the time or place of the injury. Whether it be labeled a minimalcontact, or a one act tort, the effect is the same, i.e., jurisdiction in the forum state attaches.
Metal-Matic,
This court has not found any Nevada case on point dealing specifically with N.R.S. § 14.080’s applicability to product retailers. However, the literаl language of the statute appears to encompass them. The statute expressly embraces a “corporation,” who although does not manufacture a product, “otherwise supplies directly or indirectly any product for ... sale or use” in Nevada. N.R.S. § 14.080(1). Thus, under the literal language of § 14.080, it does not appear to matter whether Fox Five was the manufacturer of the aircraft at issue or merely a downstream retailer. The statute encompasses manufacturеs and suppliers alike.
This, however, is not the end of the personal jurisdiction inquiry. Regardless of how broad the construction of a state’s long-arm statute, the state statute can never confer personal jurisdiction beyond the limits imposed by the U.S. Constitution.
See Data Disc,
The remaining personal jurisdiction аnalysis under Nevada’s long-arm statute— e.g., whether Fox Five reasonably may have expected the aircraft to enter Nevada — collapses into a single inquiry of whether the exercise of that jurisdiction comports with the defendant’s constitutional due process rights.
See Abbott-Interfast Corp. v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court,
B. Due Process
While this court is bound to follow the Nevada Supreme Court’s interpretation of the state’s long-arm statute, the due process question is a matter of federal law.
Data Disc,
[d]ue process requires only that in order to subject a defendant to a judgment in personam, if he be not present within the territory of the forum, he have certain minimum contacts with it such that the maintenance of the suit does not offend “traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.”
Core-Vent Corp. v. Nobel Industries AB,
There are two types of personal jurisdiction that a court may exercise over a nonresident defendant. A court may exercise “general jurisdiction” over a nоnresident defendant, even if “the cause of action does not arise out of or relate to the [nonresident defendant’s] activities in the forum State,” when the nonresident defendant’s activities within the state are “substantial” or “continuous and systematic.”
Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia, S.A., v. Hall,
Therefore, this court must determine whether the defendant has “minimum contacts” with the forum of Nevada sufficient to subject it to “specific jurisdiction.”
Core-Vent,
(1) The nonresident defendant must do some act or consummate some transaction with the forum or perform some act by which he purposefully avails himself of the privilege of conducting activities in the forum, thereby invoking the benefits and protections of its laws.
(2) The claim must be one which arises out of or results from the defendant’s forum-related activities.
(3) Exercise of jurisdiction must be rear sonable.
Core-Vent,
Thе seminal ease for contested personal Jurisdiction in products liability actions is the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in
World Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson,
Notwithstanding the broad language of the “stream of commerce” standard, the Court clearly stated that, for purposes of due process analysis, merely placing a product into the “stream of commerce” does not itself give rise to the requisite “expectation” that the product will enter a particular state. The Court specifically stated that “ ‘foreseeability alone has never been a sufficient benchmark for personal jurisdiction under the Due Process Clausef,]”’
Id.
at 295,
This interpretation of
World-Wide Volkswagen
is consistent with Ninth Circuit precedent. In
Brand v. Menlove Dodge,
In the instant action, Fox Five sold the aircraft at issue on April 1, 1992 to Fighter Pilots USA in Florida. Fighter Pi
The facts presented here are directly analogous to those presented in Menlove Dodge, wherein the court held:
Because [the defendant] did not engage in affirmative conduct to deliver its product to California, but rather passively made a sale it allegedly knew would affect that state, [the court concludes] that [the defendant] did not direct its activities purposefully at California so as to сreate a presumption of reasonableness of jurisdiction in the California courts.
As a final matter, the plaintiffs request, should the court find that
prima facie
ease for personal jurisdiction is not met, that the court order additional discovery and allow the parties to submit additional jurisdictional facts to supplement the affidavits already filed. Specifically, the plaintiffs assert that additional discovery may reveal two things: (1) whether Fox Five has sold other aircraft
Second, the Ninth Circuit has held that merely advertising in a national publication with circulation in the forum state does not support specific jurisdiction.
See Kransco Manufacturing, Inc. v. Markuntz,
III. Conclusion
Based on the foregoing,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the defendant’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction (# 12) is GRANTED.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that plaintiffs’ request for oral argument on the defеndant’s motion to dismiss (# 17) is DENIED.
Notes
. Fox Five’s motion to dismiss is captioned as a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. However, the court will assume, based on the arguments contained therein, that the motion is incorrectly captioned and is intended to challenge only personal jurisdiction over the defendant.
. It is worth noting that the Supreme Court subsequently attempted to clarify the scope of the "stream of commerce” language and its relationship to the "purposeful availment" prоng of the minimum contacts test.
See Asahi Metal Industry Co. v. Superior Court of California,
Since
Asahi,
the circuits have split over whеther the "stream of commerce” standard in
WorldWide Volkswagen
requires a plaintiff to establish jurisdiction in products liability cases by showing affirmative conduct by the defendant purposefully directed at the forum.
See, e.g., Lesnick v. Hollingsworth & Vose Co.,
. The court recognizes that Nevada case law is not binding on the court's due process determination. However, in a diversity action, the court may look to the law of the state in which it sits as persuasive authority.
Data Disc, Inc. v. Systems Tech. Assoc., Inc.,
In
Wilmack, Inc. v. Second Judicial Dist. Court,
