Opinion ID: 1427062
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The district court correctly dismissed Boschetto's complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction.

Text: We apply a three-part test to determine whether the exercise of specific jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant is appropriate: (1) The non-resident defendant must purposefully direct his activities or consummate some transaction with the forum or resident thereof; 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 relates to the defendant's forum-related activities; and (3) the exercise of jurisdiction must comport with fair play and substantial justice, i.e. it must be reasonable. Id. at 802 (citing Lake v. Lake, 817 F.2d 1416, 1421 (9th Cir.1987)). The plaintiff bears the burden on the first two prongs. Id. If the plaintiff establishes both prongs one and two, the defendant must come forward with a compelling case that the exercise of jurisdiction would not be reasonable. Id. (quoting Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 476-78, 105 S.Ct. 2174, 85 L.Ed.2d 528 (1985)). But if the plaintiff fails at the first step, the jurisdictional inquiry ends and the case must be dismissed. See Pebble Beach Co. v. Caddy, 453 F.3d 1151, 1155 (9th Cir. 2006) ([Plaintiff's] arguments fail under the first prong. Accordingly, we need not address [the remaining two prongs].). For part one of this three-part test, we have typically analyzed cases that sound primarily in contractas Boschetto's case doesunder a purposeful availment standard. Schwarzenegger, 374 F.3d at 802 (We often use the phrase `purposeful availment' in shorthand fashion, to include both purposeful availment and purposeful direction, but availment and direction are, in fact, two distinct concepts. A purposeful availment analysis is most often used in suits sounding in contract.) (internal citation omitted); see also McGlinchy v. Shell Chemical Co., 845 F.2d 802, 817 (9th Cir.1988) (distinguishing purposeful direction precedents where personal jurisdiction is sought on a contract claim, not on a tort claim). To have purposefully availed itself of the privilege of doing business in the forum, a defendant must have performed some type of affirmative conduct which allows or promotes the transaction of business within the forum state. Sher, 911 F.2d at 1362 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Our evaluation of the jurisdictional significance of a defendant's contract or other business in the forum is not rigid and formalistic, but rather practical and pragmatic. Burger King Corp., 471 U.S. at 478, 105 S.Ct. 2174 ([W]e have emphasized the need for a highly realistic approach that recognizes that contract is ordinarily but an intermediate step serving to tie up prior business negotiations with future consequences which themselves are the real object of the business transaction.) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); Lake, 817 F.2d at 1421 (The first step of the specific jurisdiction analysis involves a qualitative evaluation of the defendant's contact with the forum state.) (emphasis added). In doing so, we are guided by the Supreme Court's admonition that the formation of a contract with a nonresident defendant is not, standing alone, sufficient to create jurisdiction. Burger King Corp., 471 U.S. at 478, 105 S.Ct. 2174 (If the question is whether an individual's contract with an out-of-state party alone can automatically establish sufficient minimum contacts in the other party's home forum, we believe the answer clearly is that it cannot.) (emphasis in original); see also McGlinchy, 845 F.2d at 816 n. 9 (same). Here, Boschetto fails at step one of the test for specific jurisdiction, as the lone transaction for the sale of one item does not establish that the Defendants purposefully availed themselves of the privilege of doing business in California. The arrangement between Boschetto and Hansing which is, at bottom, a contract for the sale of a good, is insufficient to have created a substantial connection with California. Hansing (and assuming arguendo that they had any involvement in the transaction, the Boucher Defendants) did not create any ongoing obligations with Boschetto in California; once the car was sold the parties were to go their separate ways. Neither Boschetto's complaint nor his affidavit in opposition to dismissal point to any continuing commitments assumed by the Defendants under the contract. Id. Nor did performance of the contract require the Defendants to engage in any substantial business in California. On Boschetto's version of the facts, funds were sent to Wisconsin and arrangements were made to pick up the car there and have it delivered to California. This was, as the district court observed, a one-shot affair. See CompuServe, Inc. v. Patterson, 89 F.3d 1257, 1265 (6th Cir.1996). As the Supreme Court has expressly cautioned, a contract alone does not automatically establish minimum contacts in the plaintiff's home forum. See Burger King Corp., 471 U.S. at 478, 105 S.Ct. 2174; see also Doe v. Unocal Corp., 248 F.3d 915, 924 (9th Cir.2001) (However, an individual's contract with an out-of-state party alone [cannot] automatically establish sufficient minimum contacts to support personal jurisdiction.) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted); cf. Travelers Health Ass'n v. Commonwealth of Va., 339 U.S. 643, 647, 70 S.Ct. 927, 94 L.Ed. 1154 (1950) (purposeful availment found if business activities reach out beyond one state and create continuing relationships and obligations ) (emphasis added). [3] Ignoring the limited nature of the transaction at issue, Boschetto attaches special significance to the fact that the transaction was consummated via eBay, noting that the eBay listing could have been viewed by anyone in California (or any other state for that matter) with Internet access. But the fact that eBay was used as the conduit for this sale does not affect the jurisdictional outcome, at least not on the particular facts presented here. In Cybersell, Inc. v. Cybersell, Inc., 130 F.3d 414, 419 (9th Cir.1997), we discussed with approval a sliding scale analysis that looks to how interactive an Internet website is for purposes of determining its jurisdictional effect. (In sum, the common thread, well stated by the district court in Zippo, is that the `likelihood that personal jurisdiction can be constitutionally exercised is directly proportionate to the nature and quality of the commercial activity that an entity conducts over the Internet.' ) (quoting Zippo Mfg. Co. v. Zippo Dot Com, 952 F.Supp. 1119, 1124 (W.D.Pa. 1997)). The plaintiff in Cybersell relied on the fact that the defendant operated a website, accessible in the forum state, that contained allegedly infringing trademarks. 130 F.3d at 416. The defendant's website advertised its services but did not allow parties to transact business via the site. Id. at 419. Noting the lack of interactivity on the defendant's website, the court concluded that the defendant had done no act and [] consummated no transaction, nor has it performed any act by which it purposefully availed itself of the privilege of conducting activities, in Arizona, thereby invoking the benefits and protections of Arizona law. Id. The Cybersell analysis, while persuasive where the contact under consideration is the website itself, is largely inapplicable in this case. Here, eBay was used to create a listing for the sale of a good. Based on a superficial application of Cybersell, the eBay listing process and the sale it engenders is interactive. Id. (noting the lack of evidence suggesting that defendant's website resulted in any business generation). But, as the district court noted, the issue is not whether the court has personal jurisdiction over the intermediary eBay but whether it has personal jurisdiction over an individual who conducted business over eBay. In Cybersell and related cases where the Internet site actually belongs to and is operated by the defendant, the nature of the website has jurisdictional significance because the website allows the defendant to maintain some ongoing contact with the forum state (as well as every other state that can access the site). See Zippo, 952 F.Supp. at 1125-26 (We are being asked to determine whether Dot Com's conducting of electronic commerce with Pennsylvania residents constitutes the purposeful availment of doing business in Pennsylvania.). Here, the eBay listing was not part of broader e-commerce activity; the listing temporarily advertised a good for sale and that listing closed once the item was sold, thereby extinguishing the Internet contact for this transaction within the forum state (and every other forum). [4] Moreover, Boschetto does not allege that any of the Defendants are using eBay to conduct business generally. He does not allege that Defendants conduct regular sales in California (or anywhere else) via eBay. Based on his own affidavit he named the Boucher Defendants based on a good faith belief that Hansing may have been acting as their agent during the sale. But he does not go on to allege  on information and belief or otherwise  that either Hansing or the Boucher Defendants are regular users of the eBay sales platform to sell their cars. [5] This is a distinction with a difference, as the cases that have found that jurisdiction was proper based on eBay sales relied heavily on the fact that the defendant was using the platform as a broader vehicle for commercial activity. See, e.g., Crummey v. Morgan, 965 So.2d 497, 500 (Ct.App.La. 2007) (evidence of two prior sales to Louisiana residents in prior year); Dedvukaj v. Maloney, 447 F.Supp.2d 813, 822-23 (E.D.Mich.2006) (Although the Court's research has not disclosed any personal jurisdiction cases involving the use of eBay auctions as a commercial seller's primary marketing vehicle, it is clear from the record that Defendants' use of eBay is regular and systemic.); Malcolm v. Esposito, 2003 WL 23272406 at  (Va.Cir.Ct. Dec. 12, 2003) (Defendants are commercial sellers of automobiles who, at the time the BMW was sold, were represented on eBay as `power sellers' with 213 transactions.). At bottom, the consummation of the sale via eBay here is a distraction from the core issue: This was a one-time contract for the sale of a good that involved the forum state only because that is where the purchaser happened to reside, but otherwise created no substantial connection or ongoing obligations there. See McGee, 355 U.S. at 223, 78 S.Ct. 199. The Supreme Court has, in the past, sounded a note of caution that traditional jurisdictional analyses are not upended simply because a case involves technological developments that make it easier for parties to reach across state lines. World-Wide Volkswagen v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286, 293, 100 S.Ct. 580, 62 L.Ed.2d 490 (1980) ([W]e have never accepted the proposition that state lines are irrelevant for jurisdictional purposes, nor could we, and remain faithful to the principles of interstate federalism embodied in the Constitution.). The use of eBay no doubt made it far easier to reach a California buyer, but the ease with which Boschetto was contacted does not determine whether the nature and quality of the Defendants' contacts serve to support jurisdiction. That is not to say that the use of eBay digs a virtual moat around the defendant, fending off jurisdiction in all cases. Where eBay is used as a means for establishing regular business with a remote forum such that a finding of personal jurisdiction comports with traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice, International Shoe Co., 326 U.S. at 316, 66 S.Ct. 154, then a defendant's use of eBay may be properly taken into account for purposes of establishing personal jurisdiction. See Crummey, 965 So.2d at 500; Dedvukaj, 447 F.Supp.2d at 822-23; Malcolm, 2003 WL 23272406 at . But on the facts of this casea one-time transactionthe use of eBay as the conduit for that transaction does not have any dispositive effect on jurisdiction. [6]