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Facts of the case

Kathy Keeton (Keeton) sued Hustler Magazine, Inc. (Hustler) and several
other defendants for libel in the United States District Court for the District of
New Hampshire. Keeton alleged that the district court had jurisdiction based
on diversity of citizenship since she was a resident of New York and Hustler
was an Ohio corporation with its principal place of business in California.
Hustler sold 10 to 15 thousand copies of its magazine in New Hampshire
each month but Keeton's only connection to New Hampshire was the
circulation there of copies of a magazine that she assisted in producing. She
chose to sue in New Hampshire because it was the only state in which the
statute of limitation for libel six years, the longest in the United States had
not run. The district court dismissed the suit on the ground that the due
process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment forbade the application of New
Hampshire's long-arm statute in order to acquire personal jurisdiction over
Hustler. The First Circuit affirmed, finding that Keeton's contacts with New
Hampshire were too attenuated for an assertion of personal jurisdiction over
Hustler. The Court of Appeals also found the application of the "single
publication rule," which would require the court to award Keeton damages
caused in all states should she prevail, unfair since most of Keeton's alleged
injuries occurred outside of New Hampshire.

Question
Was Hustler's circulation of magazines within the forum state of New
Hampshire alone sufficient, without regard to the depth of plaintiff's contacts
or the amount of plaintiff's damages caused in New Hampshire, to support an
assertion of personal jurisdiction in a libel action based upon the contents of
the magazine?

Yes. Hustler's regular circulation of magazines in New Hampshire is sufficient to support an


assertion of personal jurisdiction in a libel action based on the contents of the magazine. In
analyzing whether there are sufficient minimum contacts to permit personal jurisdiction under
the Fourteenth Amendment, a court should focus on the relationship among the defendant, the
forum, and the litigation. Hustler has continuously and deliberately exploited the New Hampshire
market and therefore it must reasonably anticipate being hauled into court there. Keeton did not
need to have minimum contacts with the forum state in order for that state to have asserted
personal jurisdiction over Hustler. New Hampshire had a sufficient interest in adjudicating the
dispute. Moreover, even though most of the harm done to Keeton occurred outside New
Hampshire, the same would be true in most libel cases brought anywhere other than plaintiff's
state of domicile

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