Opinion ID: 2322880
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Genera Jurisdiction

Text: Having concluded that there is no basis to exercise specific personal jurisdiction, we must next consider whether Rhode Island can exercise general personal jurisdiction. This forum may not exercise general jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant unless the defendant's contacts with a state are `continuous, purposeful, and systematic.' Rose, 819 A.2d at 1250 (citing International Shoe Co., 326 U.S. at 317, 66 S.Ct. 154). Therefore, if O'Melveny and Harris's contacts with Rhode Island are sufficient for general jurisdiction, then they may be sued for activities unrelated to the underlying malpractice action. See Rose, 819 A.2d at 1251; Casey, 745 A.2d at 744. O'Melveny is a large, general practice law firm with domestic and international offices. It maintains no office in Rhode Island, neither owns nor leases property here, maintains no records here, has neither an agent, telephone number nor mailbox here, and none of its attorneys is licensed to practice in Rhode Island. O'Melveny does not recruit personnel in Rhode Island. The record indicates that ten O'Melveny attorneys have been admitted to Rhode Island pro hac vice in six cases in Rhode Island state courts and the Federal District Court of Rhode Island since 1994. All those appearances were on behalf of out-of-state clients. There have been other isolated contacts and communications with Rhode Island parties, including discussions with local experts, providing testimony at a legislative hearing, taking one in-state deposition in an out-of-state case, and communications with instate attorneys on behalf of out-of-state clients. Neither O'Melveny nor Harris appeared in Rhode Island during its incidental representation of Fleet. Harris is a resident and domiciliary of New York. He is not admitted to practice law in Rhode Island, has never appeared in a Rhode Island court on a pro hac vice basis, and has never engaged in any professional activity in Rhode Island. He avers that his only personal contact with the state in the past twenty years was to attend his brother's wedding in 1989. On its website, O'Melveny holds itself out to potential clients as having the proven ability to cooperate seamlessly across the country or around the world. Consistent with this representation, ten different O'Melveny lawyers have been admitted to state or federal courts in Rhode Island in six different cases over a seven-year span. Thus, Schatz asserts, O'Melveny can and should `reasonably anticipate' that it may be `haled into court' in Rhode Island. We are not satisfied that these pro hac vice appearances constitute such continuous and systematic contacts with Rhode Island as to subject the nonresident law firm to our courts' jurisdiction. Nor do they, together with O'Melveny's other sporadic and incidental contacts with Rhode Island, demonstrate a continuous, pervasive presence in the State of Rhode Island. Under Article II, Rule 9 of the Supreme Court Rules, pro hac vice appearances may be granted to nonresident attorneys only upon special and infrequent occasion. We need not reach the question of how many pro hac vice appearances by different members of a law firm might be enough to warrant the exercise of general jurisdiction over the law firm itself. Clearly in this case, continuous and systematic contacts have not been established. See Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia, S.A. v. Hall, 466 U.S. 408, 418-19, 104 S.Ct. 1868, 80 L.Ed.2d 404 (1984). Similarly, a law firm website that proclaims the firm's ability to represent clients in all domestic courts does not constitute direct solicitation of potential Rhode Island clients, and should not be construed as a contact for the purposes of our analysis. Even if such advertising were a cognizable contact with the forum, it would not be a sufficient ground on which to exercise personal jurisdiction. See Russo v. Sea World of Florida, Inc., 709 F.Supp. 39, 41-42 (D.R.I.1989) (no personal jurisdiction where out-of-state corporation advertised and sold tickets through travel agents in Rhode Island); Donatelli v. National Hockey League, 708 F.Supp. 31, 35 (D.R.I.1989) (televising games, selling merchandise, sending scouts and referees for exhibition games in state insufficient contact for exercise of general jurisdiction over unincorporated association), rev'd on other grounds, 893 F.2d 459 (1st Cir.1990); but see Kim v. Keenan, 71 F.Supp.2d 1228, 1234 (M.D.Fla.1999) (recognizing that active Internet solicitation is a means for establishing personal jurisdiction).