Opinion ID: 411165
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Bar's Total Contacts With Louisiana.

Text: 47 Since we cannot sustain personal jurisdiction solely on the basis of those actions of the Bar that gave rise to this suit, the only remaining question is whether the totality of its relations with Louisiana are such that maintenance of this suit would not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. Insurance Corp. of Ireland v. Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee, --- U.S. ----, ----, 102 S.Ct. 2099, 2105, 72 L.Ed.2d 492 (1982) (quoting International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 316, 66 S.Ct. 154, 158, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945)). 48 The Bar's total alleged contacts with Louisiana are that approximately fifty of its members live there and thus receive mailings there, including membership fee statements; that those members pay their membership fees by checks mailed from Louisiana; and that some eighty-nine students from Louisiana law schools applied to take the California bar examination during the 1970s. There is no allegation that these students were Louisiana residents, although presumably most of them were, at least when they applied. 49 Any determination as to fairness must result from a weighing of all the relevant facts; the inquiry is therefore highly specific to each case and not susceptible of easy determination. [F]ew answers will be written 'in black and white. The greys are dominant and even among them the shades are innumerable.'  Kulko v. Superior Court, 436 U.S. 84, 92, 98 S.Ct. 1690, 1696, 56 L.Ed.2d 132 (1978) (quoting Estin v. Estin, 34 U.S. 541, 545, 68 S.Ct. 1213, 1216, 92 L.Ed. 1561 (1948)). Nevertheless, some guidance can be gleaned from previous cases, particularly in identifying the factors relevant to the decision. 50 The leading Supreme Court cases have evaluated the facts in light of a number of considerations. International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945), looked at the inconvenience to the defendant of having to litigate away from its residence, the relationship between the defendant's contacts with the forum and the cause of action, the quality and nature of the contacts, and the extent to which the defendant exercise[d] the privilege of conducting activities within [the] state ... [and] enjoy[ed] the benefits and protection of the laws of that state. Id. at 319, 66 S.Ct. at 159. 51 In McGee v. International Life Insurance Co., supra, the Court considered some new elements: the interest of the forum state in maintaining the suit, the difficulty to the plaintiff of pursuing the defendant to its home state, and the location of the likely witnesses. Hanson v. Denckla, 357 U.S. 235, 78 S.Ct. 1228, 2 L.Ed.2d 1283 (1958), laid particular emphasis on whether the defendant had purposefully avail[ed] itself of the privilege of conducting activities within the forum State, thus invoking the benefits and protections of its laws. Id. at 253, 78 S.Ct. at 1239 (citing International Shoe, supra ). Shaffer v. Heitner, 433 U.S. 186, 97 S.Ct. 2569, 53 L.Ed.2d 683 (1977), which applied the International Shoe line of cases to in rem jurisdiction, observed that if the law of the forum state would be used to decide the controversy, that would support but not establish personal jurisdiction. It also stressed Hanson's concern with purposeful availment of the privileges of the forum. The Court reiterated that emphasis in Kulko v. Superior Court, 436 U.S. 84, 98 S.Ct. 1690, 56 L.Ed.2d 132 (1978), and noted that the only reason the forum state in that case had any contact with the controversy was because the plaintiff had moved there. The Kulko Court also stated that a reasonable person in the defendant's place would not have expected his actions to result in having to litigate so far from his home, citing Shaffer v. Heitner, supra. Kulko, 436 U.S. at 97-8, 98 S.Ct. at 1699-1700. Finally, World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286, 100 S.Ct. 559, 62 L.Ed.2d 490 (1980), identified as relevant: 52 the plaintiff's interest in obtaining convenient and effective relief, ... at least when that interest is not adequately protected by the plaintiff's power to choose the forum ...; the interstate judicial system's interest in obtaining the most efficient resolution of controversies; and the shared interest of the several States in furthering fundamental substantive social policies .... 53 Id. at 292, 100 S.Ct. at 564 (citations omitted). 15 The Court went on to state: [T]he foreseeability that is critical to due process analysis ... is that the defendant's conduct and connection with the forum State are such that he should reasonably anticipate being haled into court there. Id. at 297, 100 S.Ct. at 567 (citing Kulko v. Superior Court, supra, and Shaffer v. Heitner, supra ). 54 After viewing the facts of this case in light of the foregoing considerations, we find that it would offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice to require the Bar to defend this suit in Louisiana. While some of the factors support jurisdiction, on balance the entire case does not. 55 Unquestionably, it would be inconvenient for the Bar to litigate in Louisiana, but that is an aspect of every suit against a nonresident defendant. It seems likely, however, that the mere inconvenience to the Bar is less than that to Burstein if she were required to litigate in California. 56 The cause of action here is essentially unrelated to the Bar's contacts with Louisiana; the only connection is that Burstein's application was mailed from Louisiana and her score received there. Neither of those occurrences are truly relevant to her cause of action for misgrading, of which all the essential elements must have occurred, if at all, outside of Louisiana. Because of this, any witnesses likely to be called, other than Burstein herself, are located outside of Louisiana. 57 One of the aspects of this case that weighs most heavily against allowing suit in Louisiana is the relative interests of the two potential forum states. Louisiana's interest in the process of admission of its residents to the bars of other states is minimal at best. It certainly bears no comparison to the state interest in McGee, which was to give residents who held insurance policies issued by out-of-state companies (potentially a much larger group of residents than applicants for out-of-state bars) protection similar to that which the state provided through its insurance company regulations for customers of in-state companies. Insurance is, of course, an industry traditionally highly regulated by the state. 58 In contrast, while admission to the Louisiana bar is quite rightly an important subject of regulation for Louisiana, admission to the California bar is not. Problems with admission to the California bar simply do not have the same effect on Louisianans as insurance fraud by out-of-state companies could on Californians. 59 On the other hand, California clearly has a vital interest in this suit, because admission to a state's bar is an important subject of state regulation. Also, it seems more likely (although we reserve decision) that California law will govern the tort and contract claims than that Louisiana law will. 60 We also find it difficult to characterize the Bar's relationship to Louisiana as one of purposeful[ ] avail[ment] ... of the privilege of conducting activities within the forum State .... Hanson v. Denckla, 357 U.S. at 253, 78 S.Ct. at 1239. The fact that the Bar permits Louisianans to apply for or retain membership does not appear to be equivalent to the commercial activities relied on in International Shoe and McGee. The benefits conferred on the Bar by so doing are not very great. The Bar does not go into Louisiana to seek new members; all its contacts with Louisiana are initiated by Louisianans. This bears more of a resemblance to the activities in Hanson (Delaware trustee merely received instructions from settlor who had moved to Florida; Florida had no personal jurisdiction over trustee) and Kulko (father, a New York resident with custody, permitted daughter to live with mother in California; California had no personal jurisdiction over father) than in those McGee (solicitation of insurance contract; personal jurisdiction over insurer) or International Shoe (salesmen soliciting orders; personal jurisdiction over seller). 61 The only aspect of the case strongly supporting personal jurisdiction is that the burden on Burstein of maintaining suit in California is presumably greater than that on the Bar of defending in Louisiana, because she is an individual and may not be as financially able to bear the costs of litigating in a distant forum. In the first place, however, this is speculation; in the second, it is outweighed by all the other considerations pointing away from a Louisiana forum. 62 Finally, Burstein wishes us to consider an additional factor: she claims that the Bar so permeates the courts in California that she cannot get a fair trial of her claims in any court there, state or federal. We decline to accept so generalized and undocumented an accusation of bias, or to give it any weight in our determination. 63