Circus Circus Hotels, Inc. v. Superior Court

The broad question presented for decision is whether the Orange County Superior Court has jurisdiction to entertain a tort action against a Nevada hotel corporation. The suit was brought by California residents and arose out of the hotel’s alleged negligence as the proximate cause of the loss by theft or mysterious disappearance of plaintiffs’ personal property from their hotel room in Las Vegas. Because the offending events causing plaintiffs’ loss occurred solely in Nevada, the narrower question to be resolved is whether the Nevada hotel corporation, under applicable constitutional standards of due process, enjoyed sufficient contacts with California such that to allow the California action to proceed would not offend “traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.” Those contacts consisted of the hotel’s substantial and regular advertising in the Los Angeles Times and the maintenance of a so-called “800” telephone number which readers of the advertising could use without cost to themselves to call the hotel and make reservations.

After the complaint was filed by the Haynies, the defendant Circus Circus Hotels, Inc., appeared specially for the purpose of…