Opinion ID: 1394245
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Whether EM purposefully availed itself of the privilege of acting in Wyoming or caused important consequences in the state.

Text: Amoco insists that EM has purposefully availed itself of acting in Wyoming by purchasing an interest in land here and by accepting benefits (the royalties) under the unit agreement. EM, on the other hand, argues that it did not purposefully avail itself of acting in Wyoming because its ownership of the royalty was completely passiveall it did was accept payments, nothing more. EM claims that ownership of property is not, by itself, sufficient to justify Wyoming exercising jurisdiction over it. We have little trouble in finding that EM purposefully availed itself of the privilege of acting in Wyoming. First, EM voluntarily purchased an interest in land in this state. EM also accepted the benefits of that ownership in the form of the royalty payments. The fact that the payments were not made in Wyoming but instead were paid by Amoco's Tulsa, Oklahoma office to EM's Denver office, is irrelevant. The payments were earned in Wyoming and were based on oil and gas production which occurred here. EM relies on our decision in Anderson v. Perry, 667 P.2d 1155 (Wyo.1983) in arguing that passive ownership is not sufficient to justify jurisdiction, rather the owner must somehow actively manage the property. We think EM's reliance is misplaced. While the finding of jurisdiction in that case was based, at least in part, on the defendant's hiring of an agent in Wyoming to manage the property, that was not the determinative factor. Anderson, 667 P.2d at 1158. Jurisdiction in Anderson was primarily based upon the existence of a contract to purchase real property in Wyoming. Several cases were cited by this court in Anderson which support the assertion of jurisdiction over a foreign defendant based on a contract and the associated consequences of that contract in the forum state. Proctor & Schwartz, Inc. v. Cleveland Lumber Co., 228 Pa.Super. 12, 323 A.2d 11 (1974) (jurisdiction asserted because contract had consequences in the forum state which defendant should have foreseen despite the fact defendant had no offices, property, agents, representatives or employees in the forum state); see also Cook Associates, Inc. v. Colonial Broach & Machine Co., 14 Ill. App.3d 965, 304 N.E.2d 27 (1973). EM voluntarily undertook actions which clearly establish that it purposefully availed itself of the privilege of acting in Wyoming.