Court Opinion

ID: 9658082
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 20:46:18.710717+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:51.375908
License: Public Domain

NORTON, Judge
(concurring specially).
While I concur with the result of the majority opinion, were it not for Minnesota’s joint and several liability statute, I would find that there are adequate contacts to assert personal jurisdiction. The French company designed the tire, had a close relationship with the manufacturer, shared ideas with the manufacturer’s New York office, and adjusted its design for distribution throughout the United States, including Minnesota.
Contrary to the majority, I do not believe that a determination of jurisdiction should rest on labeling corporate relationships. Any distinction between parent-subsidiary and sister corporation relationships should not be a differentiating factor for finding jurisdiction. We must examine the totality of business contacts between corporations in order to have a fair and realistic assessment of the circumstances of their relationship.
The majority refers to the Honda line of cases which involve a parent-subsidiary relationship. Although this parent-subsidiary relationship is a consideration, courts appear to have focused on the totality of the corporate relationship. See Wessinger, 685 F.Supp. at 777-78 (court concluded that Honda Research and Development Company was subject to its jurisdiction since Honda Research knew that finished product made from its design would be sold in Kansas because it regularly sold designs to its parent which sold to another of its subsidiaries which distributed the product throughout the United States).
We are reminded every day that we are now living in a global economy. The real world of business does not function according to our traditional notions of jurisdiction. It is clear that the French company could reasonably have anticipated being haled into the Minnesota courts were it not for case law lagging behind international business practices. See Rostad, 372 N.W.2d at 719-20 (following traditional minimum contacts analysis).