ANITA B. BRODY, District Judge.
Plaintiff Keith Finn brings suit against Defendant Great Plains Lending, LLC ("Great Plains") for alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"). I exercise subject matter jurisdiction over Finn's suit pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331. Great Plains moves to dismiss this action for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Procedure 12(b)(1); lack of personal jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Procedure 12(b)(2); improper venue under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(3); and failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).
"[T]here is no unyielding jurisdictional hierarchy." Ruhrgas AG v. Marathon Oil Co., 526 U.S. 574, 578 (1999). "In appropriate circumstances . . . a court may dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction without first establishing subject-matter jurisdiction." Sinochem Int'l Co. v. Malaysia Int'l Shipping Corp., 549 U.S. 422, 431 (2007). Based on the straightforward nature of the personal jurisdiction analysis and the more arduous subject-matter jurisdiction inquiry, I turn directly to personal jurisdiction. See Ruhrgas, 526 U.S. at 587-88 (holding that it was appropriate for a court to address a "straightforward personal jurisdiction issue" without first conducting an "arduous inquiry" into subject-matter jurisdiction that "raise[d] a difficult and novel question"). For the reasons set forth below, I will grant Great Plains' motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.
In or around November 2014, Great Plains began calling Finn, for non-emergency purposes, on his cell phone. Compl. ¶¶ 12, 14. In making these calls, Great Plains used an automatic telephone dialing system and automatic and/or pre-recorded messages. Id. ¶ 13. In late November 2014, Finn told Great Plains to stop calling him on his cell phone, thereby revoking any consent previously given to Great Plains to call his cell phone. Id. ¶ 15. Despite Finn's revocation of consent, Great Plains continued to call him on his cell phone. Id. ¶ 17. On August 17, 2015, Finn filed this action against Great Plains, alleging violations of the TCPA. See id.
Finn is a resident of Longwood, Florida. Id. ¶ 5. Great Plains is "a wholly owned corporate entity of the [Otoe-Missouria] Tribe and an arm of the Tribe, engaged in the business of consumer financial services." Def.'s Resp. Decl. of John Shotton ¶ 7 [hereinafter Shotton Decl.]. The Tribal Council established Great Plains pursuant to the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians Limited Liability Act. Id. The Tribe is the sole member of Great Plains. Def.'s Mot. Ex. D ¶ 1.1j. Great Plains' principal place of business and principal office is 8151 Highway 177, Red Rock, Oklahoma 74651.
"Great Plains conducts business from the Tribe's lands in Oklahoma. Neither the Tribe nor Great Plains has any presence in Pennsylvania or conducts any business from there." Shotton Decl. ¶ 11. Great Plains states on its website that loan payments can be mailed to P.O. Box 42906, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19101 ("P.O. Box"). Pl.'s Resp. Ex. I. The Pennsylvania P.O. Box address is owned and utilized by a third-party vendor, and Great Plains does not maintain it. Shotton Decl. ¶ 11.
When a defendant moves to dismiss a lawsuit for lack of personal jurisdiction, the plaintiff bears the burden of demonstrating the facts that establish jurisdiction. Metcalfe v. Renaissance Marine, Inc., 566 F.3d 324, 330 (3d Cir. 2009). "[O]nce a defendant has raised a jurisdictional defense, the plaintiff must prove by affidavits or other competent evidence that jurisdiction is proper." Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). If a district court does not hold an evidentiary hearing, the plaintiff must only establish a prima facie case of personal jurisdiction. Id. Moreover, a court must accept the plaintiff's allegations as true and construe all factual disputes in the plaintiff's favor. Id.
"Federal courts ordinarily follow state law in determining the bounds of their jurisdiction over persons." Daimler AG v. Bauman, 134 S.Ct. 746, 753 (2014) (citing Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(k)(1)(A)). Pennsylvania's long-arm statute provides for jurisdiction "based on the most minimum contact with th[e] Commonwealth allowed under the Constitution of the United States." 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 5322(b). Accordingly, "[t]he Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment sets the outer boundaries of [Pennsylvania's] authority to proceed against a defendant." Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S.A. v. Brown, 131 S.Ct. 2846, 2853 (2011). In order for a court to exercise personal jurisdiction over an out-of-state defendant, due process requires that the defendant have "certain minimum contacts with [the State] such that the maintenance of the suit does not offend `traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.'" Int'l Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 316 (1945) (quoting Milliken v. Meyer, 311 U.S. 457, 463 (1940)).
There are two types of personal jurisdiction: general jurisdiction and specific jurisdiction. O'Connor v. Sandy Lane Hotel Co., 496 F.3d 312, 317 (3d Cir. 2007). Finn only contends that this Court has general jurisdiction over Great Plains.
"A court may assert general jurisdiction over foreign (sister-state or foreign-country) corporations to hear any and all claims against them when their affiliations with the State are so `continuous and systematic' as to render them essentially at home in the forum State." Goodyear, 131 S. Ct. at 2851. The paradigm forums, in which a corporation is reasonably regarded as at home, are the place of incorporation and the principal place of business. Daimler, 134 S. Ct. at 760. "[I]n an exceptional case, a corporation's operations in a forum other than its formal place of incorporation or principal place of business may be so substantial and of such a nature as to render the corporation at home in that State." Id. at 761 n.19 (citation omitted). However, "the exercise of general jurisdiction in every State in which a corporation engages in a substantial, continuous, and systematic course of business . . ., is unacceptably grasping." Id. at 761 (internal quotation marks omitted).
Pennsylvania is neither Great Plains' place of incorporation nor its principal place of business.
For the reasons set forth above, I will grant Great Plains' motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.
Moreover, the pleading that Great Plains has a principal place of business at a Pennsylvania P.O. Box is also deficient because "a P.O. box may not serve as a principal place of business as it is not where a corporation's officers direct, control, and coordinate the corporation's activities." Spencer v. Pocono Int'l Raceway, Inc., No. 12-1050, 2012 WL 2050168, at *2 (M.D. Pa. June 6, 2012); see also Smith v. Kroesen, No. 10-5723, 2013 WL 6187229, at *2 (D.N.J. Nov. 26, 2013).
Furthermore, Finn does not contend that Pennsylvania is Great Plains' principal place of business in his response to Great Plains' motion to dismiss.