Grace v. MacArthur
Citation and Court
170 F. Supp. 442 (E.D. Ark. 1959), United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
Facts
The defendant MacArthur was served with process while aboard a commercial airplane flying over the state of Arkansas at an altitude of approximately 30,000 feet. He had no other contacts with Arkansas and argued the court lacked personal jurisdiction because he had never set foot in the state.
Issue
Whether personal jurisdiction may be obtained over a person by serving process on him while he is physically present in the state’s airspace, traveling aboard a commercial airliner.
Holding
Service of process on a person while in the airspace of a state confers personal jurisdiction over that person under the transient jurisdiction doctrine, just as it would if the defendant had been served while on the ground within the state.
Rule / Doctrine
Transient or “tag” jurisdiction: physical presence within the state at the time of service — however fleeting — is a traditional and sufficient basis for personal jurisdiction. The Pennoyer-era rule that presence within a state’s territory at the moment of service confers jurisdiction extends to physical presence in the state’s airspace.
Significance
Grace v. MacArthur is the quintessential teaching case on transient jurisdiction and the outer limits of the presence-based theory. It is a useful foil to Burnham v. Superior Court, which upheld tag jurisdiction over persons present on the ground. The airspace fact pattern tests whether the rationale for transient jurisdiction — sovereignty over territory — extends to the air above a state.