Case Summary

P1370 A Virginia university did not purposefully avail itself of California law by sending a recruiter for its football program to California to induce a California resident to attend, so in a personal injury action brought against the university by the California resident for an injury that occurred at the school, California courts lacked jurisdiction; since this made Virginia the only jurisdiction in which an action could be brought against the university and an individual defendant who asserted he was a Virginia resident, the trial court was correct in dismissing the action against the individual under the doctrine of forum non conveniens, even though plaintiff might not be able to win the case under Virginia law; although a time-bar under the Virginia statute of limitations would prevent Virginia from being a suitable forum, the court treated as a binding stipulation that the statute of limitations would not be raised as a defense in Virginia a representation by defense counsel that running of the statute was tolled in Virginia pending resolution in the California court.

ROMAN v LIBERTY UNIVERSITY (Virginia Defendants) 162 CA4 670 [See: CCP 410.30; Von's v Seabest 14 C4 434, T/AT 1/97; Snowney v Harrah's 35 C4 1054, P/AT 7/05; Morris v AGFA Corp 144 CA4 1452, P/AT 1/07]