SEAMAN'S EMPLOYER HELD NOT TO HAVE SUFFICIENT CONTACTS WITH STATE FROM WHERE EMPLOYER HIRED SEAMAN TO SUPPORT PERSONAL JURISDICTION AGAINST EMPLOYER DESPITE ARBITRATING THE CASE THERE AND NEGOTIATING WITH A HIRING AGENT THERE.
SILVERINO BASUEL ESTIGOY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. OSG CARCARRIERS, INC., In personam; MARITIME OVERSEAS CORPORATION, In personam,Defendants-Appellees, and M/V OVERSEAS JOYCE O.N. D921012, In Rem, Defendant.
No. 00-16915
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
2002 U.S. App. LEXIS 2538
January 17, 2002, Argued and Submitted, San Francisco, California
February 14, 2002, Filed
PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Appellant seaman sued appellee employer under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C.S. § 688, for negligence, unseaworthiness, and maintenance and cure. The United States District Court for the District of Hawaii dismissed the seaman's claims against the employer for lack of personal jurisdiction. The seaman appealed.
OVERVIEW: The seaman argued that the employer had sufficient contacts with Hawaii to create general personal jurisdiction. The district court and, in turn, the appeals court found that the contacts were not sufficient to create either general or specific jurisdiction. The employer had no agent, office, or property in Hawaii; the employer did not advertise and was not authorized to do business in Hawaii; and the employer's ships did not call on ports within Hawaii except in cases of emergency. The employer paid the seaman's airfare and arbitrated the dispute in Hawaii pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement. Those "contacts" did not constitute purposeful acts by which the employer invoked the benefits and protections of Hawaii's laws. Further, the court would not attribute to the employer the acts of another entity that served as the exclusive bargaining agent for seamen employed by the employer.
OUTCOME: The court affirmed the judgment of the district court.
