Skapa Holdings, LLC v. Robert Seitz ( 2022 )

NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JAN 10 2022
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
SKAPA HOLDINGS, LLC; OPPULUXE No. 21-15298
HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES, LLC,
D.C. No. 2:20-cv-00611-DJH
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v. MEMORANDUM*
ROBERT SEITZ,
Defendant-Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Arizona
Diane J. Humetewa, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted December 10, 2021**
San Francisco, California
Before: GOULD and COLLINS, Circuit Judges, and EZRA,*** District Judge.
Appellants SKAPA Holdings, LLC and Oppuluxe Health Technologies,
LLC appeal the district court’s grant of Robert Seitz’s motion to dismiss for lack of
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
***
The Honorable David A. Ezra, United States District Judge for the
District of Hawaii, sitting by designation.
personal jurisdiction. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm.
1. We review de novo a district court’s dismissal for lack of personal
jurisdiction. Axiom Foods, Inc. v. Acerchem Int’l, Inc., 874 F.3d 1064, 1067 (9th
Cir. 2017). The plaintiffs bear the burden of establishing that personal jurisdiction
is proper, and because the district court did not hold an evidentiary hearing, factual
conflicts must be construed in the light most favorable to plaintiffs. Ochoa v. J.B.
Martin & Sons Farms, Inc., 287 F.3d 1182, 1187 (9th Cir. 2002). Because
Arizona’s long-arm statute allows the exercise of personal jurisdiction to the full
extent permissible under the U.S. Constitution, the jurisdictional analysis in this
case matches that under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Morrill v. Scott Fin. Corp., 873 F.3d 1136, 1141 (9th Cir. 2017); Ariz. R. Civ. P.
4.2(a). Only specific jurisdiction is at issue in this appeal.
A district court has specific personal jurisdiction when: (1) the nonresident
defendant “purposefully avails” himself of the privilege of conducting activities in
the forum state or “purposefully direct[s]” his activities to the forum state; (2) the
claim “arises out of or relates to the defendant’s forum-related activities;” and (3)
exercising jurisdiction is consistent with “fair play and substantial justice.”
Schwarzenegger v. Fred Martin Motor Co., 374 F.3d 797, 802 (9th Cir. 2004). As
a general matter, the “purposeful availment” standard is used for contract claims
and the “purposeful direction” standard is used for torts claims. Id. Here, the
2
district court did not err in dismissing Appellants’ claims for lack of personal
jurisdiction.
2. Upon de novo review, we agree with the district court that Seitz did not
purposefully avail himself of the privilege of conducting activities in Arizona.
Appellants had reached out to him for the express purpose of raising capital in
Canada, and Seitz performed all his work for the venture in Canada, where he
lives. Seitz never visited Arizona. Seitz’s electronic communications with Hassan
and Shotey while they were in Arizona are insufficient to establish personal
jurisdiction. Roth v. Garcia Marquez, 942 F.2d 617, 622 (9th Cir. 1991) (noting
that “ordinarily use of the mails, telephone, or other international communications
simply do not qualify as purposeful activity invoking the benefits and protection of
the forum state”) (internal quotation and punctuation omitted).
The Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA) that Seitz signed in Canada also fails
to establish a substantial connection between him and Arizona. Although the NDA
has an Arizona choice-of-law provision, this alone is insufficient to confer
jurisdiction. Lazar v. Kroncke, 862 F.3d 1186, 1202 (9th Cir. 2017). Nor does the
NDA that Seitz signed “envision continuing and wide-reaching contacts” in
Arizona. Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 480 (1985). The NDA
was a preliminary step for the parties to share information so that Seitz could raise
capital for the venture. It is categorically different from the 20-year, highly-
3
structured franchise contract that the Supreme Court found to confer jurisdiction in
Burger King. 471 U.S. at 479–80. Any connections between Seitz and Arizona
arose from Appellants’ choice to be there, but the plaintiffs’ connections with the
forum state cannot control the jurisdictional analysis. Walden v. Fiore, 571 U.S.
277, 285 (2014); Picot v. Weston, 780 F.3d 1206, 1212–14 (9th Cir. 2015).
3. Nor did Seitz purposefully direct his activities to Arizona such that
Arizona can exercise jurisdiction over him for Appellants’ tort claims. Under the
three-pronged purposeful direction test, a defendant must have “(1) committed an
intentional act, (2) expressly aimed at the forum state, (3) causing harm that the
defendant knows is likely to be suffered in the forum state.” Axiom Foods, 874
F.3d at 1069. Here, the first prong is satisfied by the intentional torts that
Appellants allege Seitz committed, Picot, 780 F.3d at 1214, but the Appellants fail
at the second prong. Seitz’s knowledge that Appellants were residents of Arizona
is insufficient on its own to satisfy the “express aiming” prong. Walden, 571 U.S.
at 285–88; Axiom Foods, 874 F.3d at 1069–70. To the extent that Appellants argue
that the intellectual property was located in Arizona, the intellectual property was
only located in that state because that is where Appellants “chose to be.” Walden,
571 U.S. at 290. Appellants did not establish that Seitz purposefully directed any
allegedly tortious conduct to Arizona, the forum state. The district court did not
err in dismissing this case for lack of personal jurisdiction.
4
AFFIRMED.
5