Roosevelt Wright v. The Kansas City Southern Railway Company ( 2020 )

STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT
ROOSEVELT WRIGHT NO. 2019 CW 1369
VERSUS
THE KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN JAN 14 2020
RAILWAY COMPANY
In Re:
The Kansas City Southern Railway Company, applying for
supervisory writs, 19th Judicial District Court,
Parish of East Baton Rouge, No. 679258.
BEFORE: WHIPPLE, C. J., GUIDRY, WELCH, LANIER AND BURRIS,' JJ.
WRIT GRANTED. The trial court' s September 16, 2019
judgment which denied the exception of lack of personal
jurisdiction filed by defendant, The Kansas Southern
City
Railway Company, is reversed. Plaintiff, Roosevelt Wright, as
the party asserting that personal jurisdiction is proper, had
the initial burden of proving minimum contacts sufficient to
give rise to specific personal jurisdiction or to general
personal jurisdiction. Crosstex Energy Services, LP v. Texas
Brine Co., LLC, 2017- 1405 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 4/ 25/ 18), 253 So. 3d
806, 811, writ denied, 2018- 0881 ( La. 9/ 28/ 18), 252 So. 3d 919.
We find this is a case of general jurisdiction because the
injury to plaintiff did not arise from work in or related to
defendant' s activities in Louisiana. The general jurisdiction
inquiry does not focus solely on the magnitude of defendant' s
in- state contacts, but rather on an appraisal of a corporation' s
activities in their entirety. BNSF Railway Co. v. Tyrrell, --
U. S. --, 137 S. Ct. 1549, 1559, 198 L. Ed. 2d 36 ( 2017). The facts
relied upon by plaintiff herein are more related to his chosen
residence in Louisiana than to activities of defendant directed
to Louisiana. Plaintiff failed to meet his burden of
establishing that defendant' s Louisiana contacts are so
continuous and systematic as to render it essentially at home in
Louisiana. BNSF Railway Co., 137 S. Ct. at 1558. Accordingly,
the exception of lack of personal jurisdiction filed by
defendant,
The Kansas City Southern Railway Company, is granted,
and plaintiff' s it
claims against are dismissed, without
prejudice.
JMG
WIL
WJB
Whipple, C. J., and Welch, J., dissent and the
would deny
writ.
COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT
f
DEPUTY LERK OF COURT
FOR THE COURT
1Judge William J. Burris, retired,
serving pro tempore by special appointment
of the Louisiana Supreme Court.