Szantay v. Beech Aircraft Corporation

After Elmer Szantay had his Beech Aircraft Corporation (defendant) plane serviced in South Carolina by Dixie Aviation Company (defendant), the plane crashed in Tennessee the next day, killing all aboard, who were Illinois citizens; their personal representatives (plaintiffs) sued Beech and Dixie in federal court in South Carolina under diversity jurisdiction, asserting wrongful-death claims under Tennessee law. Dixie, a South Carolina corporation, could only be served in South Carolina, and the district court found Beech, though incorporated in Delaware with a Kansas principal place of business, had sufficient South Carolina contacts to permit service there; Beech moved to quash service and dismiss, relying on a South Carolina statute barring courts from hearing suits by nonresidents against foreign corporations on foreign causes of action, since the suit involved Illinois plaintiffs suing a foreign corporation on a Tennessee claim. The district court denied Beech's motions, and Beech appealed.