95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7276, 95 Daily Journal D.A.R. 12,439 Elizabeth Ballard v. Michael E. Savage, and Royal Trust Bank (Austria)

We are called upon to decide whether the district court had personal jurisdiction over an Austrian bank. The district court granted a motion to dismiss under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(2) for lack of jurisdiction. We reverse.

I.

Appellant Elizabeth Ballard (“Ballard”) brought this class action lawsuit on behalf of herself and other victims of an alleged Ponzi scheme in which investors were promised a $10 million return for every $5,000 they invested. Known as the “Savage Program” after its founder and chief perpetrator Michael Savage, the bogus scheme took in millions of dollars before its eventual demise. This action represents Ballard’s effort to recover some of the money she and her fellow victims lost.

Only one defendant to Ballard’s class action is involved in this appeal. That defendant is Royal Trust Bank (“Royal” or the “Bank”), an Austrian bank headquartered in Vienna. Ballard alleges in her complaint that Royal was a knowing participant in the Savage Program. According to Ballard, the Bank’s role in the scheme was to take the ill-gotten money and hide it in Austria where it would remain beyond the reach of the American legal process when the fraud surfaced. She claims that…