Legal Issues

Mike Allen, a lifelong resident of Kent is asking if he can sue Manor Hotel because he fell at the shower.
Issue
It is possible for Mr. Allen to sue the hotel management because of the accident Are the courts of the State Kent competent in hearing the case

Conclusion
The client did not specify in his letter the cause of the accident. However, on the question on jurisdiction or if Mr. Allen can file a case against Manor Hotel in Kent the answer is yes.

Facts of the Case    
Mr. Mike Allen is a bona fide resident of Kent and a professional hypnotist. While attending the national conference of American Counsel of Hypnotists, he slipped while taking a shower. The hotel where Mr. Allen is staying is Manor Hotel, which the client claimed to be not a native company in Kent.
    
Based on the letter of Mr. Allen, Manors headquarters is in Delaware. The hotel management, as a business strategy, actively negotiates with different organizations, institutions and associations, convincing them to hold their important events andor functions in their hotel. 

Organizations that have acquired the service of Manor Hotel are American Lung Association, the National Rifle Association and the American Association of Orthodontists.
However, Mr. Allen claims that Manor hotel, though servicing clients and clienteles in Kent, the hotel does not place any advertisement in the local daily and other media organizations, neither have they had a resident business agent in the state. 

Though this was the case, the Manor Hotel has placed some billing arrangements with several Kent companies whereby these companies employees can direct bill their rooms to the corporation. I think that the Manor has two or three such relationships with Kent based corporations. 

Prior to the conference, which Mr. Allen has attended, his organization, the American Counsel of Hypnotists had already had their 2007 convention there. Now, in 2008 the organizing committee of the American Counsel of Hypnotists has agreed to hold their event in Manor Hotel.

Mr. Allen, a delegate to the said conference, checked-in one of the rooms of the hotel. He made his billing via credit card. On that same room where the incident happened.

Based on the current legislature existing in Kent, it states that xxx A Court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a person, who acts directly or through an agent, as to a cause of action in law or equity arising from the persons that a. transacting any business in this state and b. contracting to supply services or things in this state xxx.
   
Discussion
In the case International Shoe v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310 (1945), the ruling explains that, without violating the due process clause of the US Constitution, minimum contacts with the forum state can give the court in that state personal jurisdiction over a party. 

On that ruling, the court also said that the International Shoe had conducted systematic and continuous business in Washington. It furthered that a large volume of interstate business for the defendant was created through Defendants agents in the state and Defendant received the benefits and protection of the states laws. Defendant had established agents in the state permanently. (International Shoe v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310 (1945)).

Mr. Allen has established by knowing that the Manor hotel, notwithstanding the absence of its corporate office in the State of Kent, has been with continuous contact with the businesses operating under the laws of Kent. Therefore, the courts in Kent are pertinent to try the case of Mr. Allen versus Manor Hotel.

Another jurisprudence that can support this belief is the case of Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462 (1985) wherein the Supreme Court that the defendants purposefully availed themselves of the protections of the forum state (Florida) and were, therefore, subject to jurisdiction there.
Furthermore, the Court had reasoned that the defendants had a substantial and continuing relationship with Burger King in Florida and that due process would not be violated because the defendants should have reasonably anticipated being summoned into court in Florida for breach of contract.
In this light, the plaintiff Mr. Allen can therefore file a case in the courts in the State of Kent without any violations of the existing laws of the United States of America, provided that the petition has legal merits.