Lead Opinion
OPINION
This case arises from an indemnification claim brought by Third-Party Plaintiff Rob and Charlies, Inc. (R&C), a bicycle retailer doing business in New Mexico, against Third-Party Defendant Joy Industrial Co., Ltd. (Joy Co.), a foreign manufacturer of bicycle parts. R&C appeals a judgment of the district court granting Joy Co.’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. The district court concluded that Joy Co. lacked the constitutionally required minimum contacts with New Mexico necessary to support personal jurisdiction and that, even if the necessary minimum contacts were established, the exercise of jurisdiction over Joy Co. would nevertheless offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. We disagree with the district court and reverse. Further, this Opinion clarifies the standards to be used for evaluating whether a person or entity is subject to the jurisdiction of New Mexico courts despite not having been present in the state, either at the time of the suit or at the time of the alleged injury, and despite not having consented to the exercise of jurisdiction.
I. BACKGROUND
In 1988, Plaintiff Archibald Sproul purchased a GT All-Terra Mountain Bicycle from R&C, a retail bicycle store located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Sproulwas riding that bicycle on May 19, 2003, at a BMX course in Santa Fe County. As he went over a bump, the front wheel separated from the bicycle’s front fork assembly. Sproul was thrown off the bicycle and, as a result, he suffered serious, permanent injuries. On May 18, 2006, Sproul filed suit against R&C; GT Bicycles, Inc.; Pacific Cycle, Inc. (the companies that manufactured the bicycle); and Ishiwata (the company that manufactured the bike’s frame and fork). Sproul alleged that, among other things, Defendants’ negligently designed, manufactured, assembled, and sold the bicycle, quick-release hub, and front fork, which failed, causing the front wheel to fall off.
R&C filed a third-party complaint for indemnity against Joy Co. in May 2008. Joy Co. is the manufacturer of the quick-release mechanism on the GT bicycle that Sproul purchased from R&C. Joy Co. has its principal places of business in China and Taiwan, and its two manufacturing facilities are located in China. Joy Co. “sells its products to the global bicycle marketplace through a network of agents and suppliers.”
R&C claimed that it was entitled to a right of indemnification against Joy Co. because Joy Co. was the upstream manufacturer of the allegedly defective quick-release mechanism that was ultimately sold by R&C in New Mexico. Joy Co. responded by filing a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. Joy Co. contended that it had no distributors or clients in New Mexico and did not know where the bicycles that incorporated its quiclcrelease mechanisms were sold. Therefore, Joy Co. argued, there were no facts indicating that it had the necessary systematic and continuous contacts or purposeful contact required to subject it to either general or specific jurisdiction in New Mexico.
After allowing the parties to conduct limited discovery on the jurisdictional issue, the district court considered their written submissions and oral arguments and ultimately granted Joy Co.’s motion to dismiss. Specifically, the court concluded that R&C failed to show as a matter of law that Joy Co. had sufficient contacts with New Mexico to enable it to assert personal jurisdiction. The district court further found that the exercise of jurisdiction over Joy Co. would offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. The district court denied R&C’s motion for reconsideration; however, it certified the matter for interlocutory appeal, and we granted the application.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
The determination whether a district court has personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant is a question of law that we review de novo. Sublett v. Wallin,
III. ANALYSIS
R&C raises eight issues on appeal. All of these issues can fairly be collapsed into one question: whether Joy Co. has sufficient minimum contacts with New Mexico necessary to support personal jurisdiction and, thus, whether the district court erred by granting Joy Co.’s motion to dismiss. The answer requires us to employ a two-step analysis. The first step is to determine whether personal jurisdiction over Joy Co. would be in accordance with the requirements of New Mexico’s long-arm statute. Concluding that jurisdiction may properly be extended under our long-arm statute, we then proceed to the second step. At step two of the analysis, we examine whether the exercise of personal jurisdiction would offend the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution. Whether a state may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident civil defendant depends on the nature and quality of the defendant’s contacts with the forum. In that regard, personal jurisdiction has been described as being either “general” or “specific.” R&C contends that both exist in this case. In addressing R&C’s respective arguments, we determine that the state may not exercise general jurisdiction over Joy Co. However, in clarifying our personal jurisdiction jurisprudence — especially with respect to the stream of commerce theory of jurisdiction — Joy Co. has minimum sufficient contacts to subject it to specific jurisdiction in New Mexico under the standard set forth in World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson,
A. New Mexico’s Long-Arm Statute
In construing whether a nonresident defendant may be subject to jurisdiction in the forum state, this Court looks to New Mexico’s long-arm statute, which provides, in pertinent part,
Any person, whether or not a citizen or resident of this state, who in person or through an agent does any of the acts enumerated in this subsection thereby submits himself or his personal representative to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state as to any cause of action arising from:
(1) the transaction of any business within this state;
(3) the commission of a tortious act within this state[.]
NMSA 1978, § 38-1-16(A)(1), (3) (1971). The term “person” as used in the statute includes corporations. See, e.g., Roberts v. Piper Aircraft Corp.,
B. The Due Process Clause
“The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment limits the power of a state court to render a valid personal judgment against a nonresident defendant.” World-Wide Volkswagen,
In this case, R&C contends that it made a prima facie showing that New Mexico courts could exercise both general and specific jurisdiction over Joy Co. We address each of R&C’s contentions in turn.
1. General Jurisdiction
R&C maintains that it has met its prima facie burden of establishing general jurisdiction and that the district court erred in resolving the issue in Joy Co.’s favor. For the reasons that follow, we disagree.
A state exercises general jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant when its “affiliations with the [sjtate are so continuous and systematic as to render [it] essentially at home in the forum [sjtate.” Goodyear,___ U.S. at___,
R&C contends that New Mexico has general personal jurisdiction over Joy Co. because the company has continuous and systematic contacts with New Mexico. However, R&C does not allege any facts to support this assertion. For example, R&C has not provided evidence that Joy Co. is incorporated under the laws of New Mexico, that it has corporate operations, employees, or agents here, or that it has manufacturing facilities in the state. Consequently, we conclude that the requisite types of contacts, such as the existence of corporate operations or the manufacture of products in New Mexico, which we have said can be a basis for general jurisdiction, do not exist over Joy Co. in this case. Cf. United Nuclear Corp. v. Gen. Atomic Co.,
Moreover, to the extent that R&C asserts the sale of Joy Co.’s products in New Mexico may establish general personal jurisdiction, we are not persuaded. As the United States Supreme Court has recently clarified, the flow of a manufacturer’s goods into the forum state alone does not create sufficient ties with that state to give it general jurisdiction over the manufacturer. Goodyear,___U.S. at___,
The district court correctly determined that there were no facts demonstrating that Joy Co. has the requisite continuous and systematic contacts with New Mexico to confer general personal jurisdiction. However, that is not the end of our jurisdictional inquiry. We now consider whether the claim at issue arose out of Joy Co.’s purposeful contact with our state and, therefore, whether specific jurisdiction applies.
2. Specific Jurisdiction
A state has specific jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant if that defendant’s contacts do not rise to the level of general jurisdiction, but the defendant nevertheless “purposefully established contact with New Mexico.” Zavala,
The United States Supreme Court has clarified that “specific jurisdiction is confined to adjudication of issues deriving from, or connected with, the very controversy that establishes jurisdiction.” Goodyear,___U.S. at___,
R&C argues that Joy Co. is subject to specific jurisdiction inNew Mexico because it has purposefully availed itself of the protections and benefits of New Mexico law under the stream of commerce theory. In particular, R&C contends that Joy Co. established sufficient minimum contacts with New Mexico by placing the quick-release mechanism into the stream of commerce with the intent to distribute the product worldwide, including the United States.
We begin with the appropriate due process standard for determining personal jurisdiction on a stream of commerce theory. The United States Supreme Court has noted that “[t]he stream-of-commerce metaphor has been invoked frequently in lower court decisions permitting jurisdiction in products liability cases in which the product has traveled through an extensive chain of distribution before reaching the ultimate consumer.” Goodyear,___U.S. at___,
a. World-Wide Volkswagen and New Mexico Law
The stream of commerce theory finds its origins in the United States Supreme Court decision in World-Wide Volkswagen. In World-Wide Volkswagen, the Court held that an Oklahoma court could not, consistent with the Due Process Clause, exercise jurisdiction over a nonresident automobile retailer and distributor “when the defendants’ only connection with Oklahoma is the fact that an automobile sold in New York to New York residents became involved in an accident in Oklahoma.”
Our appellate courts have not had occasion to construe the stream of commerce theory in a products liability case since the United States Supreme Court decided Asahi in 1987. However, we have decided several cases prior to the issuance of that opinion that illuminate the requirements for minimum contacts sufficient to establish personal jurisdiction in New Mexico courts. We recognize that none of our case law is directly on point; however, we believe that these cases can be useful and are consistent with the stream of commerce analysis set forth in World-Wide Volkswagen.
In Visarraga, we held that New Mexico courts could not assert jurisdiction over defendant Littlejohn’s Equipment Company, Inc. (Littlejohn), the secondary distributor of a defective hose.
In Roberts, the plaintiff’s estate sued three defendants after a plane crash that killed the decedent.
Our lone Supreme Court opinion dealing with the notion of minimum contacts was decided well before the United States Supreme Court’s decision in World-Wide Volkswagen. However, in Blount v. T D Publishing Corp.,
[wjhen a manufacturer voluntarily chooses to sell his product in a way which will be resold from dealer to dealer, transferred from hand to hand and transported from state to state, he cannot reasonably claim that he is surprised at being held to answer in any state for the damage the product causes.
Id. Thus, the regular distribution plan and the commercial benefit to the nonresident defendant, which it derived from the sale of its products, was sufficient to satisfy due process and subject the defendant to our courts. Id. at 391,
Both World-Wide Volkswagen and our New Mexico cases make clear that the mere foreseeability that a product may make its way into our state either by the act of a consumer or through a random or isolated sale is not enough to confer jurisdiction. Rather, there must be some act purposefully directed at the forum state. Thus, “the foreseeability that is critical to due process analysis is . . . that the defendant’s conduct and connection with the forum [sjtate are such that he should reasonably anticipate being haled into court there.” World-Wide Volkswagen,
Reaffirming a preference for Justice Brennan’s stream of commerce approach from World-Wide Volkswagen, we now turn to the facts in this case to determine whether R&C has made a prima facie case establishing that New Mexico may assert specific jurisdiction over Joy Co. under the stream of commerce theory of minimum contacts.
b. Joy Co.’s Contacts With New Mexico
R&C contends that the presence of the quick-release mechanisms on bicycles sold within New Mexico through the direct sales of such mechanisms to bicycle sellers in the United States is sufficient to establish that Joy Co. has sufficient minimum contacts under World-Wide Volkswagen to subject it to jurisdiction in New Mexico. Based on the undisputed facts in this case, we agree.
Joy Co. is a foreign corporation that has its principal places of business in Taiwan and China and operates under the laws of the Republic of China; Joy Co. designs bicycle component parts, including quick-release mechanisms and manufactures them at facilities in the Republic of China; and Joy Co. sells its pro ducts internationally to bicycle manufacturers through a network of agents and suppliers, including J&B Importers, Inc. (J&B). J&B, which is headquartered in Miami, Florida, is a distributor of bicycle parts in the United States, and it serves the New Mexico market from its Denver, Colorado facility. R&C can order the component parts manufactured by Joy Co. by purchasing them from J&B. In addition, Joy Co.’s full-time marketing and sales employee who is located in California sells Joy Co. products as well as provides customer service and support to Joy Co.’s clients throughout the United States, including New Mexico.
Many bicycles sold by R&C have the Joy Co. quick-release mechanisms installed in them, and Joy Co. knows that the bicycles bearing their quick-release mechanism are sold worldwide. There is no dispute that Joy Co. manufactured the quick-release mechanism that was incorporated into Sproul’s bike and that R&C sold Sproul the GT bike with the Joy Co. quick-release mechanism at issue in 1988. In fact, at that time, many GT bikes had Joy Co. quick-release mechanisms, including bicycles sold at New Mexico retailers such as K-Mart.
Further, to the extent Joy Co.’s quick release mechanisms are sold in the United States, its manufacturing processes for the production of the item comply with the United States safety standards, and Joy Co. has “never tried not to comply” with the United States standard. Joy Co. does not avoid or prohibit the sale of its products in the United States, although it does specifically avoid selling its products in Central and South America.
Based on the above facts, Joy Co. manufactured the allegedly defective product and placed it into the stream of commerce. The quick-release mechanism was eventually sold to R&C, a New Mexico retailer, which then allegedly caused the injury to Sproul. We conclude that the manufacture and marketing by Joy Co., J&B, and now its California employee, as well as the ultimate sale, reflect more than a mere expectation that the product might be purchased by a resident in this forum. Rather, the quick-release mechanism that was incorporated into Sproul’s bicycle came to be in New Mexico due to the efforts of the “manufacturer or distributor to serve directly or indirectly” the market here. See World-Wide Volkswagen,
Joy Co.’s principal argument on appeal is that the district court correctly found that New Mexico could not exercise jurisdiction over it because it has never directed its activities specifically toward New Mexico, nor did it have any direct contact with the state or knowledge that its products would be incorporated into bikes specifically sold in New Mexico. We disagree. As an initial matter, we note that Joy Co. does not assess the question here against the standard set forth in World-Wide Volkswagen, opting instead to focus solely on Asahi and J. McIntyre Machinery. In any event, neither World-Wide Volkswagen nor our cases require that a manufacturer direct activities specifically at the forum state. Rather, World-Wide Volkswagen requires that the defendant place the product into the stream of commerce with the expectation that it will be purchased by users in the forum state.
Joy Co. cites much authority from other jurisdictions requiring that a defendant take additional acts directed at the forum state or have actual knowledge that its products are marketed there. See Windsor v. Spinner Indus. Co.,
Sufficient facts exist in this case to determine that Joy Co. purposefully directed its activities toward the United States market and, as a result, toward the New Mexico market as well. R&C has made a prima facie case establishing that Joy Co. has sufficient minimum contacts with New Mexico through its distribution system to subject it to personal jurisdiction in our courts. We next analyze whether it would be reasonable to assert specific personal jurisdiction over Joy Co.
c. Traditional Notions of Fair Play and Substantial Justice
Having established that Joy Co. has delivered its product into the stream of commerce, we now turn to the issue of reasonableness. The United States Supreme Court has held that even if a defendant has established sufficient minimum contacts with the forum state, the Due Process Clause forbids the assertion of personal jurisdiction over that defendant “under circumstances that would offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.” Asahi,
Joy Co. advances only one argument on appeal: that it would be unduly burdened by being forced to defend this action in a foreign legal system. However, Joy Co. fails to provide any facts to support their argument that defending this case in New Mexico would be unduly burdensome except to say that is so. We recognize that there may be circumstances in which it would be unreasonable to require a foreign defendant whose only connection with the forum state is through the stream of commerce to defend itself in New Mexico courts. However, unlike the hypothetical defendants in Justice Breyer’s J. McIntyre Machinery concurrence, Joy Co. is not a small farmer or cottage industry potter in a faraway country or state. See J. McIntyre Mach.,___ U.S. at___,
In contrast, R&C contends that its interest in indemnification against Joy Co. is great. R&C also argues that New Mexico has a clear interest in resolving claims arising from injuries occurring here as the result of defective products sold or supplied by foreign manufacturers that profit from the sale of their product to New Mexico consumers. We agree. R&C’s interest in obtaining relief is manifest, and its assertions are consistent with the policies embodied in our long-arm statute. Joy Co. manufactured the quick-release mechanism at issue, and it is thus the party ultimately responsible for the allegedly defective product. Because the burden of defending in the foreign legal system is slight in comparison to R&C’s and New Mexico’s interest, the district court erred in finding that it is unreasonable to assert personal jurisdiction over Joy Co.
d. Declining to Apply Asahi or J. McIntyre Machinery
As we have noted, the district court in this case relied on Asahi in finding that it could not exercise specific personal jurisdiction over Joy Co. The district court acknowledged the “split view of the ‘stream of commerce doctrine ’” from that of World- Wide Volkswagen but nevertheless adopted the stream of commerce plus test set forth in Asahi. Joy Co. on the other hand relies on the United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in J. McIntyre Machinery in which a plurality of the Court rejected the “national stream of commerce” theory as a basis for personal jurisdiction. We discuss the Court’s multiple rationales in these cases and explain why the stream of commerce theories in either Asahi or J. McIntyre Machinery are not adopted here.
In Asahi, the United States Supreme Court issued a fractured decision outlining competing versions of the stream of commerce theory.
Additional conduct of the defendant may indicate an intent or purpose to serve the market in the forum [sjtate, for example, designing the product for the market in the forum [sjtate, advertising in the forum [sjtate, establishing channels for providing regular advice to customers in the forum [sjtate, or marketing the product through a distributor who has agreed to serve as the sales agent in the forum [sjtate. But a defendant’s awareness that the stream of commerce may or will sweep the product into the forum [sjtate does not convert the mere act of placing the product into the stream into an act purposefully directed toward the forum [sjtate.
Id. Applying this reasoning to Asahi, Justice O’Connor concluded that exercising personal jurisdiction over the company would violate due process because there was no evidence of any action by Asahi to purposefully avail itself of the California market. Id. at 112-13.
Justice Brennan, writing for another four-Justice plurality, saw “no need” for a showing of additional conduct directed toward the forum when the defendant is aware that the stream of commerce may or will “sweep the product into the forum [s]tate.” Id. at 116-17 (Brennan, J., concurring) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Instead, Justice Brennan viewed the stream of commerce as “the regular and anticipated flow of products from manufacture to distribution to retail sale” rather than as simply “unpredictable currents or eddies.” Id. at 117 (Brennan, J., concurring). Accordingly, the facts in Asahi were sufficient to establish minimum contacts because Asahi was “aware of the distribution system’s operation, and it knew that it would benefit economically from the sale in California of products incorporating its components.” Id. at 121 (Brennan, J., concurring) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Justice Stevens, writing separately and joined by Justices White and Blackmun, first stated that the examination of minimum contacts was unnecessary in light of the Court’s determination that exercise of jurisdiction over Asáhi would be unreasonable and unfair. Id. at 121 (Stevens, J., concurring). In concluding that the minimum contacts part of the test had been satisfied, Justice Stevens criticized the plurality for assuming that a clear line can be drawn between awareness that a part will reach the forum state and purposeful availment of the forum market. Id. at 122 (Stevens, J., concurring). According to Justice Stevens, whether or not Asahi’s conduct constituted purposeful availment required an examination of the volume, value, and hazardous character of the products. Id. (Stevens, J., concurring). Given the facts considered necessary by Justice Stevens, the Asahi opinion arguably supports a finding that there were sufficient minimum contacts based on the stream of commerce theory. However, the dueling Asahi opinions have done little more than provide a muddled rubric for deciding stream of commerce cases involving nonresident corporations and nowhere has that been more evident than in lower court decisions. For example, some federal and state courts have applied Justice Brennan’s more broad stream of commerce approach. See, e.g., State v. NV Sumatra Tobacco Trading, Co.,
After a twenty-four-year hiatus, the United States Supreme Court returned to the stream of commerce theory last year in J. McIntyre Machinery,___U.S. at___,
Justices Breyer and Alito concurred in the judgment but for different reasons. Justice Breyer noted that none of the Court’s precedents found that a single, isolated sale of a good in the forum state was constitutionally sufficient to confer personal jurisdiction. Id. at _,
Justices Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan dissented, taking a more expansive approach to the due process requirements for the exercise of personal jurisdiction. Justice Ginsburg first criticized the plurality, stating that, “the plurality’s notion that consent is the animating concept draws no support from controlling decisions of this Court.” Id. at __,
Because J. McIntyre Machinery did not produce a majority opinion adopting either Justice O’Connor’s or Justice Brennan’s stream of commerce theory, and given Justice Breyer’s reliance on current United States Supreme Court precedent, pre-Asahi case law utilizing the approach set forth in World-Wide Volkswagen remains binding in New Mexico. This approach requires us simply to adhere to our precedents, at least until the United States Supreme Court resolves the twenty-five-year-old uncertainty over whether stream of commerce theory is sufficient to establish the required minimum contacts and, if so, how it should be applied. For these reasons, the district court decision applying Justice O’Connor’s stream of commerce plus approach from Asahi was in error. Joy Co.’s view that the proper approach to applying the minimum contacts test is to follow Justice Kennedy’s plurality opinion in J. McIntyre Machinery is also rejected.
IV. CONCLUSION
Viewing the facts in a light most favorable to R&C, Joy Co.’s conduct and activities directed at the forum state are sufficient to establish a prima facie showing that personal jurisdiction is proper under the New Mexico long-arm statute and consistent with the requirements of federal due process. We reverse the district court’s decision and remand for further proceedings.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Concurrence Opinion
(specially concurring).
I agree that Joy Co.’s conduct and activities are sufficient to confer specific jurisdiction on the New Mexico district court to decide R&C’s claim for indemnification against Joy Co. In my opinion, however, this case does not require us to “reject” or “adopt” any views expressed by the United States Supreme Court. Accordingly, I specially concur.
The question presented in this case is whether Joy Co. has purposefully availed itself of the privilege of conducting activities within New Mexico, thereby invoking the protection of its laws, and whether the claim for indemnification brought by R&C against Joy Co. arises out of Joy Co.’s activities in New Mexico. See J. McIntyre Mach.,___U.S. at ___,
I refer to Justice Brennan’s view as the “stream of commerce” view. Under this view:
The stream of commerce refers not to unpredictable currents or eddies, but to the regular and anticipated flow of products from manufacture to distribution to retail sale. As long as a participant in this process is aware that the final product is being marketed in the forum State, the possibility of a lawsuit there cannot come as a surprise. Nor will the litigation present a burden for which there is no corresponding benefit. A defendant who has placed goods in the stream of commerce benefits economically from the retail sale of the final product in the forum State, and indirectly benefits from the State’s laws that regulate and facilitate commercial activity. These benefits accrue regardless ofwhether that participant directly conducts business in the forum State, or engages in additional conduct directed toward that State.
Asahi,
I refer to Justice O’Connor’s view as the “purposefully directed” test. Under this view:
The ‘substantial connection’ between the defendant and the forum State necessary for a finding of minimum contacts must come about by an action of the defendant purposefully directed toward the forum State. The placement of a product into the stream of commerce, without more, is not an act of the defendant purposefully directed toward the forum State.
Asahi,
J. McIntyre Machinery is the most recent opinion of the United States Supreme Court addressing personal jurisdiction, and it was also decided by a plurality opinion. Speaking for four justices, Justice Kennedy states:
[Pjersonal jurisdiction requires a forum-by-forum, or sovereign-by sovereign, analysis. The question is whether a defendant has followed a course of conduct directed at the society or economy existing within the jurisdiction of a given sovereign, so that the sovereign has the power to subject the defendant to judgment concerning that conduct.
___U.S. at___,
Judge Vanzi has fairly summarized the facts in ¶¶ 27-31; 36, and they do not need repeating here. Those facts clearly establish compliance with Justice Brennan’s “stream of commerce” test. The facts also satisfy Justice O’Connor’s “purposefully directed” test. Through its marketing and distributing scheme, Joy Co. clearly targeted New Mexico as a state in which contractual duties and obligations — the basis for the indemnity claim — would be undertaken. The fact that Joy Co. itself does not enter into New Mexico is not dispositive. Summarizing existing case law in J. McIntyre Machinery, Justice Kennedy states, “a defendant may in an appropriate case be subject to jurisdiction without entering the forum — itself an unexceptional proposition — as where manufacturers or distributors ‘seek to serve’ a given State’s market.” Id. at__,
For the foregoing reasons, I do not believe it is necessary to “decline” to apply Asahi or J. McIntyre Machinery as proposed by Judge Vanzi. However, since I believe that under our standard of review, the facts herein satisfy both Asahi and J. McIntyre Machinery, I specially concur in the result reached.
Concurrence in Part
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I agree that there is no general jurisdiction to be exercised with regard to Joy Co. I respectfully disagree with the Majority that New Mexico has specific jurisdiction to entertain this indemnity claim. I believe the Opinion’s liberal approach is excessively broad. Placing goods in the worldwide stream of commerce, together with a general awareness that products delivered to distributors elsewhere might land in New Mexico, should not suffice for “purposeful availment” of the benefits and protections of New Mexico’s legal system. I am not satisfied that such an approach possesses the degree of certainty and predictability to reliably establish a manufacturer’s relationship with New Mexico as a foreign state.
I would use a test requiring behavior on Joy Co.’s part that was more demonstrably “purposefully directed” at New Mexico by Joy Co. and not just an artifact of Joy Co. being at the front end of a convoluted distribution chain that brought a bicycle part to our state. SeeAsahi,
The standard enunciated by Justice O’Connor in Asahi is one I believe to be very much alive and requires a showing that Joy Co. also “purposefully availfed] itself of the privilege of conducting activities within the forum [sjtate” and, thereby, “invoke[edj the benefits and protections of its laws.” Hanson v. Denckla,
Last year, the United States Supreme Court once again visited this cratered battlefield of plurality jurisprudence and managed to forge an agreement between six justices as to two propositions that are applicable here. J. McIntyre Mach.,___U.S. ___,
This is not the loose approach taken by the Opinion in this case that conflates foreseeability with expectation and then availment. It also does not allow for the conflation of Joy Co. seeking to serve the United States market with purposeful intent to reach the New Mexico consumer. Such a view of an intent to reach the consumer is not the test we should use, but rather we should look to purposeful intent to utilize the benefits and protections of the forum upon which the Opinion should focus. It is specifically this relationship with the forum that requires the application of due process, and purposeful availment requires an act by Joy Co. “purposefully directed toward the forum [sjtate” and not merely an awareness or an intentionborn ofusing nationwide distribution networks. Asahi,
Both the plurality and Justice Breyer’s concurrence rejected the notion that a desire for an American distributor to sell its product to any willing customer in the United States, and participation in trade shows were facts that adequately supported finding minimum contacts between a manufacturer and a state. J. McIntyre Mach.,_U.S. at ___,
Viewing a worldwide pool of commercial transactions so as to confer upon every manufacturer a specific intention to do business within every jurisdiction, and moreover impute a corporate anticipation of being haled into the courts of New Mexico as a result is a siren’s call I believe more sensible jurisprudence requires me to reject. The Majority and I do not agree that Asahi and later cases, such as J. McIntyre Machinery, owing to their multiple pluralities of opinion, have limited relevance to this situation. I believe that World-Wide Volkswagen has indeed evolved to provide a more sophisticated view of specific jurisdiction that would support affirming the district court in this case. With the frequent reliance placed on Asahi by the majority opinion to glean selected precepts, the broader view of development through J. McIntyre Machinery is one I find more satisfying to resolve the jurisdictional question posed by this case. Hence, I believe that Joy Co.’s connection with New Mexico is too attenuated to support specific jurisdiction, requiring some additional factor or act on Joy Co.’s part than simply having a marketable item in the “stream of commerce” and an imputed awareness that it would arrive in New Mexico is a better standard.
I view Justice Breyer’s concurrence in J. McIntyre Machinery as quite explicit in rejecting any jurisdiction based on no more than a producer being subject to jurisdiction “so long as it knows or reasonably should know that its products are distributed through a nationwide distribution system that might lead to those products being sold in any of the fifty states.”__U.S. at__,
I respectfully dissent.