Cite as: 526 U. S. 574 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
See App. 445-454. Finding "no evidence that Ruhrgas engaged in any tortious conduct in Texas," id., at 450, the court determined that Marathon's complaint did not present circumstances adequately affiliating Ruhrgas with Texas, see id., at 448.4
A panel of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit concluded that "respec[t]" for "the proper balance of federalism" impelled it to turn first to "the formidable subject matter jurisdiction issue presented." 115 F. 3d, at 318. After examining and rejecting each of Ruhrgas' asserted bases of federal jurisdiction, see id., at 319-321,5 the Court of Appeals vacated the judgment of the District Court and ordered the case remanded to the state court, see id., at 321. This Court denied Ruhrgas' petition for a writ of certiorari, which was
4 Respecting the three meetings Ruhrgas attended in Houston, Texas, see supra, at 579, the District Court concluded that Marathon had not shown that Ruhrgas pursued the alleged pattern of fraud and misrepresentation during the Houston meetings. See App. 449. The court further found that Ruhrgas attended those meetings "due to the [Heimdal Agreement] with MPCN." Id., at 450. As the Heimdal Agreement provides for arbitration in Sweden, the court reasoned, "Ruhrgas could not have expected to be haled into Texas courts based on these meetings." Ibid. The court also determined that Ruhrgas did not have "systematic and continuous contacts with Texas" of the kind that would "subject it to general jurisdiction in Texas." Id., at 453 (citing Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia, S. A. v. Hall, 466 U. S. 408 (1984)).
5 The Court of Appeals concluded that whether Norge had a legal interest in the Heimdal license notwithstanding its assignment to MPCN likely turned on difficult questions of Norwegian law; Ruhrgas therefore could not show, at the outset, that Norge had been fraudulently joined as a plaintiff to defeat diversity. See 115 F. 3d 315, 319-320 (CA5), vacated and rehearing en banc granted, 129 F. 3d 746 (1997). The appeals court also determined that Marathon's claims did not "strike at the sovereignty of a foreign nation," so as to raise a federal question on that account. 115 F. 3d, at 320. Finally, the court concluded that Marathon asserted claims independent of the Heimdal Agreement and that the case therefore did not "relat[e] to" an international arbitration agreement under 9 U. S. C. § 205. See 115 F. 3d, at 320-321.
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