You Can't Sue Me There! I'm Here, Not There!
Jurisdiction is one of those areas of the law that is frequently litigated, not understood by the clients, and fun for the lawyers. What happens when Company A makes a one time sale of its products to a single buyer in Minnesota. When a dispute arises, does a Minnesota court have jurisdiction over the out- of-state seller?
We have two new cases decided by the US District Court in Minnesota, which arguably come to opposite conclusions. I want to point out that both of these decision are very well reasoned.
The first case is Pope v. GMBH. The case involves a single sale into Minnesota, a repair agreement that was performed in Germany, and an order for parts. That was it. The seller had no employees or sales offices in Minnesota, no repair facilities in the states, and all work and repairs were done elsewhere. The primary question before the court was: did the seller intentionally avail itself of the privilege of doing business in Minnesota; and, could the defendant reasonably anticipate being haled into Minnesota courts from these contacts with the state. The court went through the minimum contacts analysis, and determined that yes, the buyer had established the minimum contacts to afford Minnesota courts jurisdiction over a dispute relating to the sale.
The second case, Bellisio Foods v. Prodo Pak Corp, came to the opposite conclusion and found that the defendant had not established the minimum contacts. The facts of the Bellisio case are a little different. Again we have as single sale into Minnesota. Again there is a dispute. Apparently in the Bellisio case the seller entered into a contract without knowing where the equipment was to be delivered. In other words the court found that the buyer had never expressly advised the seller where the equipment was to be delivered, leaving the seller with the choice of breaching the contract or delivering into Minnesota. While it seems odd that a seller would contract for a sale without knowing where the products were to be delivered, that is exactly what happened. The court found that leaving the seller with the choice of breach or delivery into the state was not the same as a seller intentionally availing itself of the privilege of doing business in Minnesota.
Minnesota has been quite open to finding jurisdiction over out-of-state parties in the last decade. I find it doubtful that Bellisio's management even thought about the jurisdiction issue when they learned of the delivery site. The court did not mention any objections from Bellisio.
These are fun issues for lawyers, and no so good for clients because they are expensive to fight. What was the advantage to Minnesota law in the Bellisio case? Prodio was incorporated in Delaware and located in New Jersey. Is there a significant difference in the law or perhaps a statute of limitations?
In the Pope case it is more clear cut. No one wants to go to a foreign country to litigate a contract dispute. In addition to the costs, US companies are generally unfamiliar with the laws of foreign jurisdictions.
In any case these are two cases the raise interesting issues and both could have been decided a different way, depending on how you interpret the facts and apply some of the legal factors important to establishing jurisdiction.
