The End Zone Sports Bar (hereafter referred to as "End Zone,") operates a restaurant and sports bar in Erie, Pennsylvania. They are famous for having the best wings in town, ice cold beer, and allowing patrons to place sports bets while various games play on a multitude of big-screen television sets. Because Erie, Pennsylvania is just a short drive along Lake Erie from Buffalo, New York, End Zone's location places it within a larger Western New York metropolitan area. As such, End Zone actively directs its marketing campaigns at New York residents to attract customers to patronize its establishment.

End Zone advertises through print, radio, and television media in New York; it also engages in direct mailing campaigns targeted at New York addresses. End Zone also maintains business relationships with professional sports venues in New York and pays for a special area located inside Highmark Stadium (home to Buffalo's beloved Buffalo Bills) known as the "End Zone Luxury Lounge" which features several rows of leather recliners from which to watch the game along with complimentary snacks. To facilitate the movement of customers between New York and Pennsylvania, End Zone operates a fleet of shuttle buses that ferry customers to and from Highmark Stadium. In the past, it has also donated large sums of money to political groups in New York that support its positions on sports betting and sports betting loss limit laws in New York.

Last year, Gregory Lemmon, a resident of Erie County, New York went to End Zone to relax, watch sports, and place football bets. He had previously seen and heard End Zone radio, TV, and print media advertisements in New York, and had also visited the End Zone Luxury Lounge while attending a Bills game at Highmark Stadium, having won access tickets after calling in to a local Buffalo radio show. Lemmon sat at a bar underneath the big screen televisions for several hours where he was served several alcoholic drinks. He had a good night placing bets and was pleasantly surprised to have won approximately $19,000.

End Zone offers patrons who win substantial amounts in sports bets a private room in the back of the facility in which to have their winnings counted, a security escort while the customer is still inside the establishment, and a security vehicle to follow his vehicle after it exits the parking lot to make sure the customer is not harassed or followed. It also offers to wire winnings directly to the customer's bank. End Zone implemented this policy after several "follow-home robberies." During those robberies, patrons had been targeted at End Zone, followed out of the establishment, and robbed after they had arrived at home.

Lemmon was visibly intoxicated when he cashed out his winnings and filled out the required tax form at a cashier station in public view. He then took a cab to back to his residence in New York. Two individuals who saw him cash out his winnings at End Zone followed Lemmon in a cab to his home in New York, where they beat and robbed him of all his winnings. He claims that the bar did not offer him any of its standard protections, even though End Zone was able to produce video surveillance footage from the bar floor showing Lemmon being followed by two individuals.

Lemmon sued End Zone in a New York court, alleging that the sports bar was negligent in not providing him with warnings of the prior robberies and for not protecting him from such activities. End Zone asserted that it offered to wire Lemmon's winnings directly to his bank account.

In response to Lemmon's lawsuit, End Zone filed a motion to dismiss, alleging that the New York court did not have personal jurisdiction over the sports bar, a Pennsylvania corporation. Lemmon argued that New York's long-arm statute gave it personal jurisdiction over the non-resident defendant, End Zone. The state's long-arm statute provides:

Any person or firm, whether or not a citizen or resident of this state, or any corporation, who in person or through an agent does any of the acts enumerated in this section, thereby submits such person, firm, or corporation, and, if an individual, his personal representative, to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state as to any cause of action arising from the doing of any of such acts:

(1) The transaction of any business within this state; (2) The making of any contract within this state; (3) The commission of a tortious act within this state; (4) The ownership, use, or possession of any real estate situated in this state; (5) The contracting to insure any person, property or risk located within this state at the time of contracting; (6) Engaging in an act of sexual intercourse within this state with the mother of a child on or near the probable period of conception of that child.

You are the judge of the New York state trial court assigned to this case. How do you rule on End Zone's motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction?

FIRAC Paper Directions

Because this is your first FIRAC paper, I'm going to give you more guidance than you'll receive later in the semester when you have more experience using the FIRAC model both to analyze the legal issues and to structure your paper.

While this paper raises many potential legal issues, I want you to concentrate exclusively on whether a New York state court has personal jurisdiction over End Zone, an out-of-state corporation. You'll find all the legal rules you need to analyze the scenario in my lectures and other posted course materials -- you do NOT and should NOT attempt to research this legal issue online. In addition,

Do NOT discuss whether Lemmon could also have sued in federal district court based on that court's diversity of citizenship jurisdiction. Do NOT discuss whether End Zone was properly served with notice of the lawsuit (service of process). Do NOT discuss the legal standard for a court to grant a motion to dismiss (in New York state courts or anywhere else). Do NOT discuss the negligence issues underlying Lemmon's lawsuit against End Zone. You are not deciding whether Lemmon will win his lawsuit against the sports bar for the injuries he sustained in the robbery (including the theft of his winnings), only whether the New York state trial court has personal jurisdiction over End Zone, such that it may try Lemmon's lawsuit.