Court Opinion

ID: 9689808
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 18:47:36.835856+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:52.323869
License: Public Domain

DIANE S. SYKES, J.
¶ 67. (dissenting). I join Justice Crooks' dissent. I agree that Wisconsin's long-arm statute, Wis. Stat. § 801.05(4)(b), has been satisfied, but that due process precludes the assertion of personal jurisdiction over L'Arciere. I write separately because I disagree with the majority's adoption of the Seventh Circuit's interpretation of the statute in Nelson v. Park Industries, Inc., 717 F.2d 1120 (7th Cir. 1983).
*446¶ 68. InNelson, the Seventh Circuit held that the statute's reference to "products. . .processed. . .by the defendant [and] used or consumed within this state" included the actions of a foreign distributor who did nothing more than buy and resell goods. Id. at 1124.1 am not fully convinced that the transactional act of buying and reselling a product in the ordinary course of trade constitutes "processing" for purposes of our long-arm statute. But that issue need not be decided here, and so I would not adopt Nelson's interpretation of the statute.
¶ 69. Instead, I would conclude that the particularized packaging procedure carried out by L'Arciere employees constituted "processing" as that term is commonly and ordinarily understood. "To process" is "to treat or prepare by a special method.” Funk & Wagnalls New International Dictionary of the English Language 1005 (Comprehensive Millennium Ed. 2000).
¶ 70. L’Arciere employees packaged and secured the paper pallets for shipment in cargo containers according to a detailed method — complete with bracing beams, boards, and inflated air bags — prescribed by Binda's loading plans. This is a form of "processing." As such, the long-arm statute has been satisfied, although the requirements of due process have not, for the reasons stated by Justice Crooks. Accordingly, I join his opinion, and respectfully dissent.
¶ 71. I am authorized to state that Justices JON P. WILCOX and N. PATRICK CROOKS join this dissenting opinion.