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Juelich v. Yamazaki Mazak Optonics Corp.6/24/2004
The issue presented in this case is similar to the one stated by the United States Supreme Court in its 1987 decision of Asahi Metal Industry Co. v. Superior Court of California as follows:
hether the mere awareness on the part of a foreign defendant that the components it manufactured, sold, and delivered outside the United States would reach the forum State in the stream of commerce constitutes "minimum contacts" between the defendant and the forum State such that the exercise of jurisdiction "does not offend 'traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.'"
480 U.S. 102, 105 (1987) (plurality opinion) (citing Int'l Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 316 (1945), quoting Milliken v. Meyer, 311 U.S. 457, 463 (1940)). In Asahi, the Court answered this question against jurisdiction. Id. at 116. Likewise, the court of appeals concluded that Minnesota's exercise of personal jurisdiction over respondent Meikikou Corporation (Meikikou) would violate the guarantee of due process provided by the United States Constitution. Juelich v. Yamazaki Mazak Optonics Corp., 670 N.W.2d 11, 19 (Minn. App. 2003). We affirm the decision of the court of appeals, though on slightly different grounds.
Plaintiff James Donald Juelich was injured while providing maintenance to a scissor-lift table manufactured by Meikikou. He brought a personal injury /products liability action against Meikikou and appellants Yamazaki Mazak Optonics Corporation (YMO) (who manufactured the laser-cutting machine that included the table as a component part) and Mazak Nissho Iwai Corporation (MANI) (the international distributor for YMO of the laser-cutting machines).
Meikikou is a Japanese corporation who manufactured the scissor-lift table at its factory in Japan. Meikikou sold the table to Ishihara Shoji, Meikikou's Japanese distributor, in Japan. On instruction from Shoji, Meikikou delivered the table to Seiko Keisakusho in Japan, who delivered it to YMO in Japan. YMO used the table as a part of a laser-cutting machine, known as a "Super Turbo X510 System," that it manufactured in Japan. YMO then sold the system to YMO's Illinois subsidiary corporation, MANI, which was YMO's international distributor. MANI sold the system to Gladwin Machinery & Supply Company, a Minnesota supplier, and Gladwin sold the system to Aries Precision Sheet Metal Company, the Minnesota company that was Juelich's employer. MANI's service technician installed the equipment at Aries and trained Juelich and another employee in its operation.
MANI produced evidence that 122 YMO systems with Meikikou tables had been delivered in the United States, including 17 of them in Minnesota. There also was evidence that Meikikou knew that YMO intended to market the laser systems in the United States. On July 3, 2000, Meikikou employees met in Japan with representatives of YMO and Shoji to discuss YMO's sales of the laser systems in the United States. At the request of YMO, Meikikou provided English warning labels to be placed on the tables by YMO once the tables were installed in the YMO laser-cutting machine. Meikikou also provided YMO an operations manual in Japanese that was to be used by YMO in preparing an English manual for the system. Meikikou was not involved in preparing the English manual.
There was also evidence that Meikikou maintains an English language website that features Meikikou as a world player in the scissor-lift table field. The website identifies Meikikou's domestic and international "associated" companies, including four in the United States. The website focuses primarily on a description of Meikikou as a corporation and only slightly on a description of its products. It d
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