Carretti v. Italpast

In Carretti v. Italpast (2002) 101 Cal.App.4th 1236, a California restaurant employee sued the individual (Carretti) who had sold to his employer a pasta making machine which cut off a portion of his arm. Carretti, also a California resident, acquired the pasta machine from Italpast, an Italian company, which he sued in a cross-complaint. (Id. at pp. 1239-1240.) Italpast had no offices or employees in the United States, and it did not market or advertise its products in the United States (but Italpast did send product information upon request). (Id. at p. 1240.) Carretti resided in Orange County, and had sold more than 20 Italpast machines across the United States and in other countries. (Ibid.) At the time of the lawsuit, Carretti had travelled to Italy on regular occasions over the previous seven years to purchase his wares. (Ibid.) Each time Carretti purchased goods from Italpast, Italpast would deliver the goods to a Milan shipper selected by Carretti, and Carretti made all shipping arrangements. (Ibid.) The sales documents prepared by Italpast indicated it was aware Carretti was a California resident, as it included his address on the documents. (Ibid.) Italpast provided replacement parts and price lists to Carretti at his request; further, Carretti facilitated the provision of replacement parts by Italpast and even arranged two visits by Italpast employees to the United States to meet with a customer. (Id. at p. 1241.) The Carretti court found Italpast had not purposefully availed itself of the forum, declining to find "random sales in Italy to a distributor who happens to have an office in California but may resell its products anywhere is tantamount to an effort to serve the market in the state." (Carretti, supra, 101 Cal.App.4th at p. 1253.) The court classified the case as one in which Italpast merely placed its goods into the "stream of commerce" without the expectation that any such products would end up in California (id. at pp. 1246-1247), and any sales to California customers "took place through the unilateral activity of Carretti." (Id. at p. 1254.) The court explained it was unnecessary to examine fairness considerations in light of its conclusion on purposeful availment, but it noted "Carretti makes a practice of traveling to Italy to do business and was the one who got Italpast involved. We pay heed to the admonition of the United States Supreme Court ... : '"Great care and reserve should be exercised when extending our notions of personal jurisdiction into the international field.' All things considered, it is not unreasonable for Carretti to have to pursue redress in Italy, where he purchased the allegedly defective machine." (Id. at p. 1255.)