HELICOPTEROS NACIONALES DE COLUMBIA, S.A. v. HALL
Supreme Court of US 1984
466 US 408, 104 S.Ct 1868, 80 L.Ed.2d 404
pg 142
Facts
Helicol trains pilots, purchases parts, performs maintenance, and sends management to work with Bell Helicopter in Texas.
Negotiates terms of contract while in Fort Worth TX. Contracting for transport work in Peru for pipeline
Hires employees (Plaintiffs) in Texas
Helicol crashes helicopter in Peru killing some passengers and the survivors become the Plaintiffs in this action
Procedural History
Jury trial awards plaintiffs $1,141,200 and establishes jurisdiction over Helicopter co
Texas Ct of Appeals reverses judgment and rules that personal in personum jurisdiction was lacking
Texas Supreme Ct “focused on purchases and relating training trips” to confirm in personum jurisdiction
US Supreme Court finds that “purchases and related trips, standing alone, are not enough” to establish jurisdiction.
Holding
US Supreme Ct – no jurisdiction in TX. > sue in Peru
“We hold that Helicol’s contacts with the State of Texas were insufficient to satisfy the requirements of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment” and are not sufficiant to establish in personum jurisdiction
reversed the judgement of Supreme Court of Texas
Rule
no jurisdiction where the event didnt occur as a result of contacts in the state