Opinion ID: 2509506
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Did California Courts Properly Exercise Concurrent Jurisdiction in this Case?

Text: Defendant also argues that, assuming California courts may exercise concurrent jurisdiction to hear wrongful death claims under the Jones Act, plaintiff's suit should have nonetheless been dismissed because California lacked sufficient jurisdictional interest in this case to adjudicate his Jones Act claim. Defendant observes that neither decedent Paviolini nor plaintiff, his adoptive son, was a California resident, and the allegedly tortious conduct occurred outside of California. Although plaintiff's complaint alleged that defendant is a corporation regularly doing business in California, defendant complains that plaintiff has failed throughout the action to cite facts supporting that contention. In such circumstances, according to defendant, California was an improper forum to hear the case. Plaintiff responds by observing that this insufficient contacts argument goes more to the question of California's personal jurisdiction over defendant, an objection it concededly waived by accepting personal service and making a general appearance in the case. (Code Civ. Proc., § 410.30, subd. (b); see, e.g., People v. Ciancio (2003) 109 Cal.App.4th 175, 192-193, 134 Cal.Rptr.2d 531; 2 Witkin, Cal. Procedure (4th ed. 1996) Jurisdiction, § 184, pp. 747-748, and cases cited.) Indeed, the case on which defendant primarily relies in this regard, Star Aviation, Inc. v. Superior Court (1977) 73 Cal.App.3d 807, 141 Cal.Rptr. 13, was a personal jurisdiction case arising from a nonresident corporation's motion to quash service of summons upon it for lack of jurisdiction over its person. ( Id. at p. 810, 141 Cal.Rptr. 13.) The decision was confined to determining whether the defendant had sufficient presence or contacts in this state to justify requiring it to submit to jurisdiction here. Generally, subject matter jurisdiction is the court's power to hear and resolve a particular dispute or cause of action, while personal jurisdiction relates to the power to bind a particular party, and depends on the party's presence, contacts, or other conduct within the forum state. (See Greener v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (1993) 6 Cal.4th 1028, 1034-1035, 25 Cal.Rptr.2d 539, 863 P.2d 784; 2 Witkin, Cal. Procedure, supra, Jurisdiction, §§ 10-11, pp. 555-556; id., §§ 110-111, pp. 648-651.) The issue before us involves the subject matter jurisdiction of California state courts over Jones Act claims, not personal jurisdiction over this defendant. In light of the state Constitution's broad conferral of jurisdiction (Cal. Const., art. VI, § 10), we see no fundamental jurisdictional impediment to allowing plaintiff to bring his Jones Act claim in California courts. Defendant disclaims any intent to argue that California was an inconvenient forum under the facts. Such an argument would relate more to venue than subject matter jurisdiction, and again would have been waived by failing to assert it at trial. (See Code Civ. Proc., § 396b, subd. (a); People v. Simon (2001) 25 Cal.4th 1082, 1096, 108 Cal.Rptr.2d 385, 25 P.3d 598 [venue is not jurisdictional], 1102 [waiver rule in civil cases]; Cooney v. Cooney (1944) 25 Cal.2d 202, 207-208, 153 P.2d 334.)