Opinion ID: 1665281
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Matters Relevant to Duck Boo's Contacts

Text: Leytham's complaint alleges that the following establish that the trial court has personal jurisdiction over Duck Boo: Duck Boo purchased and carries liability insurance that provides insurance coverage in every one of the United States, including Alabama; Duck Boo has engaged in designing, manufacturing and marketing its seatbelts and other products to conform with United States governmental and industry wide safety and design standards and criteria, including safety standards by United States regulatory agencies and state common law court decisions, including the Courts of Alabama; Duck Boo and/or its representatives have attended American automobile manufacturing trade shows and/or have participated in trade groups to ensure that [its] products comply with governmental and industry wide safety and design standards and criteria, including government standards imposed by legislative bodies, regulatory agencies and/or state common law court decisions, including the Courts of Alabama; Duck Boo has advertised through the World Wide Web and print and other media with a goal towards expanding the markets for its seatbelts and other products to all of the United States, including Alabama; Duck Boo has employed personnel and consultants ... to provide guidance and advice about how to successfully market its seatbelts and other products to automobile and other manufacturers who, in turn, sell their products in all of the United States, including Alabama; Duck Boo has retained American legal counsel ... to defend and protect [its] interests when foreseeable product liability suits would be filed against it in the United States, including Alabama; Duck Boo attached to the seat belt in the automobile driven by Stabler a label written in the English language and stating, among other things, that it was manufactured by [Duck Boo] International Co., Ltd., and that it complies with the United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards applicable to seatbelts; Duck Boo contracted with one or more companies in the United States to conduct seatbelt testing, it being the purpose of [Duck Boo] to avail itself of markets throughout the United States including Alabama; Duck Boo has had many different models of its seatbelts shipped to the United States to be tested for compliance with the United States of American Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 209 by a U.S. based companyi.e., SGS U.S. Testing Company, Inc.; Duck Boo attaches identification tags to the seatbelts that it manufacturers, just like the seatbelt with the label in English referenced hereinabove; and Duck Boo previously included on its website a time line stating that in 1987 it began to export vehicle seatbelts to the United States. In support of her right to compel discovery, Leytham submitted to the trial court pleadings in actions against Duck Boo in other states, documents produced by Kia Motors reflecting testing by SGS U.S. Testing Company, Inc., and an affidavit of one of Leytham's attorneys attaching a photograph of the Duck Boo seat belt on the vehicle involved in the accident made the basis of this claim, which reflects that Duck Boo manufactured the seat belt in accordance with United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. Duck Boo's motion to dismiss relied upon the affidavit of Choi, who testified that Duck Boo conducts business entirely within the Republic of Korea and maintains no agents, physical presence, or property within the State of Alabama or the United States; that it manufactures vehicle-restraint systems that it sells exclusively to Korean final-stage motor-vehicle manufacturers, who are solely responsible for integrating Duck Boo's restraint system into their final product; and that it has no control over where the final product is marketed, sold, or distributed, because the marketing, selling, and distributing is left to the final-stage manufacturer. Choi also testified that Duck Boo is not qualified, authorized, or registered to do business in Alabama; that it does not sell any products in Alabama and has never entered into any contract in Alabama; that it has never entered into a contract with an Alabama resident and has never entered into a contract to be performed in Alabama; that it has never transacted business in Alabama and is not currently doing business in Alabama; that it has never provided any services in Alabama; that it does not now pay, and has never paid, taxes in Alabama; that it does not now own, rent, purchase, or lease, and has not ever owned, rented, purchased, or leased, any real or personal property in Alabama; that it does not maintain any office or place of business in Alabama; that it does not have any assets in Alabama; that it does not have any distributors in Alabama; that it has never had an agent for service of process in Alabama; that it has never maintained a telephone, telex, or telefax number or address in Alabama; that it does not have, and never has had, any employees (including salespersons, representatives, agents, or servants) who conducted business in Alabama or who were residents of Alabama; that it does not do, and has never done, any advertising in Alabama; that it does not solicit, and has not ever solicited, business directly or through agents in Alabama; that it does not provide regular advice to customers in Alabama; that it has never marketed any product in Alabama; that it has no officers, employees, or directors living in Alabama; that it has never applied for a loan or acted as a guarantor or cosigner on a bank loan in Alabama; that it has never maintained any records, bank accounts, payroll records, books of account, and/or any other business record in Alabama; that it has never initiated litigation in Alabama; that it has never consented to personal jurisdiction of a court in Alabama; that it never anticipated or intended that it would be subject to personal jurisdiction in Alabama; that it does not derive any revenue from Alabama; that all transactions relating to Duck Boo's sale of restraint systems to vehicle manufacturers (including Kia Motors) occurred in the Republic of Korea; that no aspect of the relationship between Duck Boo and Kia Motors takes place in the United States; that Duck Boo did not install the restraint systems into the automobile made the basis of this action; that Duck Boo did not manufacture, sell, or distribute the automobile made the basis of this action; that Duck Boo did not service, maintain, or repair the automobile made the basis of this action or any of its components; that Duck Boo had no knowledge of what happened to its vehicle-restraint systems after it sold them to Kia Motors (a Korean corporation) in the Republic of Korea, beyond the general knowledge that its restraint systems would be installed in vehicles in the Republic of Korea; and that Duck Boo was not involved in bringing the subject automobile, restraint systems, or any components into the United States or Alabama.