Title: Ex parte Rockingham Boat Club, Inc.
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: 1151345
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: October 27, 2017

REL: October 27, 2017
Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance
sheets of Southern Reporter.  Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions,
Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334)
229-0649), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made
before the opinion is printed in Southern Reporter.
SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA
OCTOBER TERM, 2017-2018
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1151345
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Ex parte Rockingham Boat Club, Inc.
PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS
(In re:  Keith Edward Kelley, Jr.
v.
Rockingham Boat Club, Inc.)
(Clarke Circuit Court, CV-16-900066)
SHAW, Justice.
PETITION DENIED. NO OPINION.  
Stuart, C.J., and Bolin, Parker, Murdock, Main, Wise, and
Bryan, JJ., concur.  
Sellers, J., dissents.
1151345
SELLERS, Justice (dissenting).
I respectfully dissent.  A single isolated sale, in this
case of a boat, even when coupled with an agreement to
undertake to make minor repairs, is an insufficient basis on
which to establish in personam jurisdiction.  Jurisdiction
depends on the nature and extent of a defendant's in-state
activities.  In this case, the defendant, Rockingham Boat
Club, Inc., did not target Alabama or otherwise specifically
direct its commercial activities toward Alabama so as to
benefit from the protections afforded by Alabama's laws.  For
jurisdiction to exist, a defendant's activities must create a
substantial nexus with Alabama; one isolated sale is not
sufficient.  I would issue the writ and direct the trial court
to dismiss the action.
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