Civil Practice – Personal Jurisdiction – Slovenian Newspaper – Insufficient Contacts – ‘Effects Test’

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Hidria, USA, Inc. v. Delo, d.d. (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-031-16, 14 pp.) (Stephanie McDonald, J.) (H. Bruce Williams, J., concurring in the result only without separate opinion) Appealed from Greenville County Circuit Court (Letitia Verdin, J.) S.C. App.

Holding: The defendant-Slovenian newspaper ran two articles about a Slovenian businessman who has ties to the South Carolina plaintiff. Although a reporter corresponded with one of plaintiff’s South Carolina employees in gathering information for one of the articles, plaintiff has not shown that the newspaper has sufficient contacts with South Carolina to allow our courts to exercise jurisdiction over it.

We affirm the circuit court’s order granting the newspaper’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.

Although plaintiff contends that all of its South Carolina employees read the articles (published only in Slovene) on the newspaper’s website, the mere accessibility of the articles via the unilateral use of the Internet by someone located in South Carolina does not satisfy the traditional minimum contacts analysis under the facts of this case.

Even if South Carolina were to adopt the “effects test” set out in Calder v. Jones, 465 U.S. 783 (1984), plaintiff cannot satisfy the effects test’s elements: (1) the defendant committed an intentional tort; (2) the plaintiff felt the brunt of the harm in the forum, such that the forum can be said to be the focal point of the harm; and (3) the defendant expressly aimed his tortious conduct at the forum, such that the forum can be said to be the focal point of the tortious activity. In a defamation context, to show that the forum can be said to be the focal point of the tortious activity, a plaintiff must establish that the speaker manifested an intent to target and focus on the readers of the forum state.

Plaintiff has failed to demonstrate that the newspaper had a manifest intent to target South Carolina readers. The Slovenske Novice is a Slovenian newspaper – published only in Slovene – directed at its readership of citizens in the Republic of Slovenia on matters of local and national interest.

The newspaper distributes no hard copies of its paper in South Carolina, and web traffic from South Carolinians is insignificant. The two articles in question concern the business activities and lifestyle of a Slovenian businessman, and the few references to plaintiff were made in this context.

Further, plaintiff cannot show that the newspaper specifically targeted South Carolina readers. Therefore, the circuit court properly declined to exercise personal jurisdiction over the newspaper.

Affirmed.