In its published Order and Amended Opinion dated March 16, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction of a wrongful-death and survivor action brought by the Estate of Susan Cox and Susan’s husband Mark Cox (Plaintiffs) against Gritman Medical Center and Patricia Marciano, Susan’s primary care doctor (Defendants).
Susan and Mark Cox lived in Albion, Washington. Susan died from an overdose allegedly related to Dr. Marciano’s over-prescription of pharmaceutical drugs. Plaintiffs filed her action in the Eastern District of Washington. Defendants are Idaho residents, and the medical treatments they provided to Susan occurred in Idaho.
The federal appellate court held that the district court’s exercise of personal jurisdiction over Defendants satisfied
Washington’s long-arm statute and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because Defendants were
located on the Idaho/Washington border, specifically cultivated treatment relationships with Washington residents, and routinely transmitted Susan’s prescriptions to Washington pharmacies at her request.
The federal appellate court did not reach the issue of whether the district court properly denied jurisdictional discovery related to whether Gritman is subject to general personal jurisdiction in Washington: Defendants are subject to specific personal jurisdiction in Washington, and therefore Plaintiffs were not prejudiced by the denial of jurisdictional discovery as to general jurisdiction.
The federal appellate court also held that venue was proper in the Eastern District of Washington because the record establishes that a substantial part of the events giving rise to Plaintiffs’ claims occurred in the Eastern District of Washington.
The federal appellate court stated in its conclusion to its Order and Amended Opinion:: “Venue is proper in “a judicial district in which a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred.” 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b)(2). The “locus of the injury” is sufficient to establish proper venue. Myers, 238 F.3d at 1076; see also 14D Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 3806 (4th ed. 2024) (“In tort cases, courts tend to focus on where the allegedly tortious actions took place and where the [noneconomic] harms were felt.”). Because Plaintiffs allege that Susan ingested her prescriptions, overdosed, and died near her home in Albion, Washington, the record establishes that a substantial part of the events giving rise to Plaintiffs’ claims occurred in the Eastern District of Washington and that venue therein is proper.”
Source Cox v. Gritman Medical Center, No. 24-1947.
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