Brooks Shoe Mfg., Inc. v. Byrd, 54855
Decision Date | 05 December 1977 |
Docket Number | No. 1,No. 54855,54855,1 |
Citation | 241 S.E.2d 299,144 Ga.App. 431 |
Parties | BROOKS SHOE MANUFACTURING, INC. v. R. D. BYRD |
Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Kilpatrick, Cody, Rogers, McClatchey & Regenstein, Albert C. Ruehmann, III, Atlanta, for appellant.
Chambers & Cooper, John W. Chambers, Atlanta, for appellee.
Defendant-appellant's motion to dismiss plaintiff-appellee's complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction was denied. This court granted the application for interlocutory appeal. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
Certain facts are not in dispute. Defendant is a Pennsylvania corporation manufacturing athletic shoes. Defendant has never established warehouses, offices, facilities or other places of business in Georgia, and at the time of suit was not authorized to do or transact business in this State. Plaintiff is a Georgia resident and was defendant's exclusive sales representative in the Southeast from mid 1973 to late 1975. Plaintiff solicited orders in Georgia subject to approval in Pennsylvania. Defendant's shipments were made F.O.B. Pennsylvania. Payments were made directly to Pennsylvania. On occasion, at defendant's request, plaintiff collected defendant's accounts receivable in Georgia. In 1973, 1974 and 1975, defendant's executive officers attended trade shows in Atlanta in order to assist plaintiff in the solicitation of potential customers.
The complaint in this action was brought in three counts. Count 1 alleges that defendant breached its contract by terminating plaintiff's employment without complying with contractual notice requirements and by failing to remit commissions allegedly owing. Count 2 sounds in tort and is predicated on defendant's alleged unreasonable and unlawful interference with plaintiff's business (soliciting orders) without legal excuse or justification. Count 3 sounds in tort and complains of defendant's unauthorized use and conversion of customer and account lists compiled by plaintiff while soliciting pursuant to the contract.
The issue before us is whether our Long Arm Statute (Code Ann. § 24-113.1), confers in personam jurisdiction under the facts of this case.
1. " " Cox v. Long, 143 Ga.App. 182(2), 237 S.E.2d 672, 673. See also Value Engineering Co. v. Gisell, 140 Ga.App. 44(3), 230 S.E.2d 29 ( ). "(T)he trend of the opinions is to construe long arm 'transacting any business' statutes most liberally and to uphold the jurisdiction of the court . . . in actions, arising, either directly or indirectly, out of such transactions." Davis Metals, Inc. v. Allen, 230 Ga. 623, 626, 198 S.E.2d 285, 287. See also Porter v. Mid-State Homes, Inc., 133 Ga.App. 706 at 707, 213 S.E.2d 10 ( ).
2. There is no case in Georgia involving this precise fact situation. We hold that under the totality of the circumstances there were sufficient contacts to confer personal jurisdiction over the nonresident defendant under § 24-113.1(a). A. Millner Co. v. Noudar, LDA 24 A.D.2d 326, 266 N.Y.S.2d 289 ( ). Cf. Scovill Mfg. Co. v. Dateline Electric Co., Ltd., 461 F.2d 897 (7th Cir. 1972) ( ).
Our decision in Storey v. Seffelaar & Looyen, Inc., 142 Ga.App. 873, 237 S.E.2d 236 does not require a contrary result. There, the nonresident corporation's activities were "unaccompanied by a local performance." Storey, supra at 874, 237 S.E.2d 236. That case, therefore, was decided in accordance with the proposition that ". . . when the unilateral actions of a...
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