Court Opinion

ID: 9465167
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 00:37:54.459414+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:00.799270
License: Public Domain

LAY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting, in which HEANEY, Circuit Judge, joins.
I fully concur in Judge Stephenson’s well-reasoned dissenting opinion. I wish to make an additional observation. If this action were pending in the state court it is clear under the Arkansas statute, Ark.Stat. Ann. § 27-2502(C)(l)(d)1 that the Supreme Court of Arkansas would uphold the service of process on defendant Weissenfels. See Nix v. Dunavant, 249 Ark. 641, 460 S.W.2d 762, 764-65 (1970); International Harvester Co. v. Hendrickson Mfg. Co., 249 Ark. 298, 459 S.W.2d 62, 64-65 (1970); Pennsalt Chemical Corp. v. Crown Cork & Seal Co., 244 Ark. 638, 426 S.W.2d 417, 419-22 (1968). The majority’s decision in effect declares unconstitutional that portion of the Arkansas statute which provides for service of process on a defendant that reaps financial gain from the distribution of its product in the state. This decision should create great concern to the vast majority of states that have sought to expand their long arm statutes to protect their citizens from defective products manufactured and distributed in their states by foreign corporations.
For many years state legislation restricted service of process to persons who were actively doing business in the state or who were otherwise physically present in the state. See Developments in the Law— State-Court Jurisdiction, 73 Harv.L.Rev. 909, 917 (1960). As the nation’s industrialization rapidly expanded the practical realization grew that injured citizens were denied a convenient judicial forum to redress the tortious effect of foreign products shipped into the state. Following the decisions in International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945) and its progeny, states began to amend their long arm statutes to expand their in personam jurisdiction over foreign corporations. These statutes were upheld as long as the exercise of jurisdiction did not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. Manufacturers were no longer allowed to disassociate themselves from their defective products shipped to distant points. See generally, Note, In Personam Jurisdiction Over Nonresident Manufacturers in Product Liability Actions, 63 Mich.L.Rev. 1028 (1965). Long arm statutes providing jurisdiction over a foreign corporation who committed a single tortious act have long withstood constitutional challenge.2 I am aware of no other federal or state decision which is in accord with the restrictive holding set out today.
*841It is somewhat surprising at this late date a federal court questions the efficacy of such legislation. Our holding today unduly encroaches upon a state’s prerogative to provide its citizens a convenient avenue of recourse against a foreign tortfeasor. The majority circumvents this argument by saying that plaintiffs “do not suffer from a dearth of available defendants.” This offhand dismissal overlooks the sound judicial policy of encouraging the settlement of all claims arising out of the same core of operative facts in a single lawsuit.
The majority decision is a giant leap backward in the law.

. Arkansas long arm statute is identical to the Uniform Interstate & International Procedure Act § 1.03.

. See e. g., Sells v. International Harvester Co., 513 F.2d 762, 763 (5th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 424 U.S. 943, 96 S.Ct. 1410, 47 L.Ed.2d 348 (1976); Dawkins v. White Products Corp., 443 F.2d 589, 590-94 (5th Cir. 1971); Gray v. American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corp., 22 Ill.2d 432, 176 N.E.2d 761, 762-66 (1961); Andersen v. National Presto Industries, Inc., 257 Iowa 911, 135 N.W.2d 639, 640-43 (1965); Ehlers v. United States Heating & Cooling Mfg. Corp., 267 Minn. 56, 124 N.W.2d 824, 826-27 (1963). Cf. Aftanase v. Economy Baler Co., 343 F.2d 187, 197 (8th Cir. 1965) (upheld service on foreign corporation stating that more than sufficient minimum contacts were present when injury resulted from defective product shipped directly into state).