Court Opinion

ID: 9884084
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 02:35:12.975966+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:35.389442
License: Public Domain

LANSING, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent.
The majority places undue weight on the fact that the plaintiff is a Wisconsin resident and the injury occurred in Wisconsin. These facts are unrelated to the defendant’s contacts with Minnesota. The plaintiff’s lack of residence in the forum state *529will not defeat jurisdiction established on the basis of defendant’s contacts. Keeton v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 465 U.S. 770, 104 S.Ct. 1473, 1481, 79 L.Ed.2d 790 (1984). The majority’s analysis is directed more toward the convenience of the forum than the defendant’s contacts with the forum.
John Blue manufactured the anhydrous ammonia applicator that injured the plaintiff. It sold the very applicator that injured the plaintiff to Lindsay Brothers, Inc., in Minnesota. It is not necessary to use a “stream of commerce” theory to assert jurisdiction over a manufacturer that sent the product to this state without attempting to insulate itself through use of an intermediary. See World-Wide Volkswagen v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286, 297-98, 100 S.Ct. 559, 567, 62 L.Ed.2d 490 (1980); Rostad v. On-Deck, Inc., 372 N.W.2d 717, 721 (Minn.1985). And although the injury occurred in Wisconsin, the plaintiff’s cause of action arises directly from John Blue’s contacts with Minnesota. See § 543.19, subd. 3.
In addition, John Blue admits that three percent of its total business involves products that reach Minnesota.1 If John Blue is carrying on part of its general business in Minnesota, that should be sufficient to support jurisdiction when the cause of action arises out of the very activity being conducted, in part, in Minnesota. See Keeton, 104 S.Ct. at 1481; Perkins v. Benguet Mining Co., 342 U.S. 437, 446-48, 72 S.Ct. 413, 418-20, 96 L.Ed. 485 (1952) (a state is free to assert or decline jurisdiction over a corporation that carries on a systematic, but limited, part of its general business there even though none of the parties was a resident of the forum state and the cause of action was unrelated to the corporation’s activities in the forum).
In reviewing motions to dismiss founded on Minn.R.Civ.P. 12.02, allegations in the complaint must be taken as true. Schermerhorn, v. Hoiland, 337 N.W.2d 692, 693 (Minn.1983). Here the plaintiff has alleged facts that, if true, show that John Blue sought to serve the Minnesota market and is consequently subject to suit here when the cause of action arises directly out of its activity within the state. Plaintiffs have made at least a sufficient showing to survive a Rule 12 motion. See id. at 694. I would hold the trial court correctly denied John Blue’s motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. I would also hold the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to dismiss on the ground of forum non conveniens. See Bergquist v. Medtronic, Inc., 379 N.W.2d 508 (Minn.1986).

. No jurisdictional discovery has been performed in this case; only a few weeks elapsed between service of the complaint and John Blue's motion to dismiss. The dollar volume this three percent figure represents and its significance in relation to John Blue’s "total business" in other states is not of record. It may be that John Blue does more business in Minnesota than in Wisconsin, the only state the majority indicates is an appropriate forum.