SAN DIEGO – The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California granted a man's motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by an Arizona woman for lack of personal jurisdiction and denied his insufficient service of process on Dec. 11.
U.S. District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel ruled on the case.
Anthony Redelf challenged the personal jurisdiction and said he doesn’t live in California and has minimum contacts there. Plus, the alleged incident happened in Texas. While plaintiff Machelle Cardenas challenged the jurisdiction, Curiel agreed with Redelf.
“Plaintiff has not presented any facts or legal support that the causes of action arise from (Anthony's) activities within California,” Curiel wrote.
The court granted his motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. In doing so, it determined it was best to deny the motion to dismiss for insufficient service of process, counting that as moot.
Redelf filed the motions after Cardenas erroneously sued him as Tony Lnu in a lawsuit along American Airlines over allegations of violation of the Federal Aviation Act.
She sued over allegations of wrongful refusal to transport, breach of contract, negligence, assault and battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress when the airline excluded her from a flight and then canceled all future flight reservations temporarily. She said this action stopped her from buying tickets without any reason.
The order states that while waiting for a flight with her son in August 2017, Cardenas was initially told the departing gate had changed and that AA agents would be there to assist with long lines. Cardenas alleges she tapped Redelf on the shoulder to get his attention and he "immediately became agitated and started physically and verbally assaulting" her, the order states.
She was later told her ticket was canceled and she was separated from her son. She later filed this lawsuit.