Opinion ID: 205620
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: General jurisdiction based on commercial web site operations

Text: Mr. Stewart is, of course, of primary interest as the former business associate of Mr. Shrader who authored the allegedly defamatory email directly underlying the various tort claims asserted in this case. But we will start our jurisdictional analysis by considering the exercise of general jurisdiction over Mr. Stewart and his companies based instead on their commercial web site operations, as this possibility can be dismissed quickly in light of its substantial overlap with a similar point already considered and rejected in connection with the Beann defendants. Again, it bears emphasizing that general jurisdiction over a web site that has no intrinsic connection with a forum state requires commercial activity carried on with forum residents in such a sustained manner that it is tantamount to actual physical presence within the state. Revell, 317 F.3d at 471 & n. 19; Bird, 289 F.3d at 874; Bancroft & Masters, 223 F.3d at 1086. Mr. Shrader submitted exhibits indicating that the Stewart defendants (1) sold books to Mr. Shrader and another Oklahoma resident, and (2) advertized in TradersWorld magazine, which was available for purchase at a Tulsa bookstore. These scant commercial transactions essentially mirror those noted in connection with the Beann defendants, which we have already held do not show defendants actually and deliberately used [their] website to conduct commercial transactions on a sustained basis with a substantial number of residents of the forum, Smith, 178 F.Supp.2d at 1235. The case law set out in our discussion of the Beann defendants reflects the rejection of general jurisdiction on the basis of considerably more commercial contact with the forum state.