Opinion ID: 783388
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Presence of Additional Parties

Text: 88 Noel asserts that his wiretapping claims are not unasserted compulsory counterclaims under Rule 13(a) because they involve three additional parties—Gabrielle Lennartz, Michelle Merchant, and Herb Weisser—over whom the Washington courts could not have acquired jurisdiction. Noel alleges that Lennartz, Merchant, and Weisser conspired with the Halls to use the tape-recorded conversations removed from the mobile home against him in various ways. Noel argues that he could not have asserted counterclaims against these three defendants in the Clark County District Court suit concerning the wiretapping violations because that court could not have asserted personal jurisdiction over them. 89 Even if we assume that Washington courts could not have acquired personal jurisdiction over these three defendants, for Noel's argument to be valid, they would have had to have been so important to Noel's counterclaims that they would have been not merely necessary but indispensable parties under Washington's Rule 19, thus requiring the dismissal of the counterclaims in their absence. See CRLJ 19(a); Harvey v. Bd. of County Comm'rs, 90 Wash.2d 473, 584 P.2d 391, 392 (1978). Noel has made no showing that these three defendants would have been indispensable parties to any otherwise compulsory counterclaims in Washington State courts. 90 Moreover, we do not agree with Noel's assertion that Washington State courts would not have been able to acquire personal jurisdiction over Lennartz, Merchant, and Weisser. Under Washington law, the following factors must coincide for there to be personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant: (1) The nonresident defendant ... must purposefully do some act or consummate some transaction in the forum state; (2) the cause of action must arise from, or be connected with, such act or transaction; and (3) the assumption of jurisdiction ... must not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. Shute v. Carnival Cruise Lines, 113 Wash.2d 763, 783 P.2d 78, 80 (1989) (internal quotation marks omitted); see Wash. Rev.Code § 4.28.185. Noel accuses Lennartz, Merchant, and Weisser of conspiring to use the tapes removed from the mobile home to injure him and his business. Based on these actions, Washington courts could have asserted personal jurisdiction over them under Washington law. These actions also satisfy the minimum contacts requirement of the federal Due Process Clause. See Int'l Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 316, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945). 91