Bloise v. Trust Co. Bank of Savannah, N.A., 67190
| Decision Date | 05 March 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 67190,67190 |
| Citation | 170 Ga.App. 405,317 S.E.2d 249 |
| Parties | BLOISE v. TRUST COMPANY BANK OF SAVANNAH, N.A. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Appellee sued appellant and others (not parties to this appeal) on a note. Appellant, a resident of New York, filed an answer in which he denied that the Georgia Long Arm Statute (OCGA § 9-10-91) subjected him to the jurisdiction of the State Court of Chatham County. After the trial court denied his motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and granted the bank's motion for summary judgment, appellant filed this appeal.
1. "A court of this state may exercise personal jurisdiction over any nonresident ... as to a cause of action arising from any of the acts, omissions, ownership, use, or possession enumerated in this Code section, in the same manner and if he were a resident of the state, if in person or through an agent, he: (1) Transacts any business within this state..." OCGA § 9-10-91(1).
"[T]he trend ... is to construe long arm 'transacting any business' statutes most liberally and to uphold the jurisdiction of the court of the plaintiff's residence in actions arising, either directly or indirectly out of such transactions." Davis Metals v. Allen, 230 Ga. 623, 626, 198 S.E.2d 285.
The note upon which the bank brought suit was the third renewal of a loan made by the bank to a partnership called Blisco Enterprises. The loan had been executed on May 28, 1981, and renewed in August 1981 and November 1981. The final renewal was executed on January 25, 1982, by Duane Green and John Cox on behalf of Blisco Enterprises. Subsequent to the closing of the original loan, but prior to the first renewal thereof, appellant Bloise signed two documents, a "Simple Partnership Agreement" and a "Partnership Certificate of Authority," in a New Jersey airport. The partnership agreement stated that Bloise and the other partners were residents of Chatham County, Georgia; that the partnership was to have its principal place of business in Chatham County; that its only business was to purchase certain equipment from an individual and lease it to a corporation; that each partner agreed to contribute $7,500 in cash or property; that nonpayment of the contribution within 90 days of the date of the agreement would result in a forfeiture of his partnership interest by the nonpaying partner; and that the agreement was to be governed by Georgia law. In the certificate of authority, each signator certified that he was a general partner of Blisco Enterprises, authorized appellee bank to accept deposits for the partnership, authorized any one of the partners to borrow money on behalf of the partnership, and authorized any partner to enter into any agreement with appellee in regard to commercial banking transactions on behalf of the partnership. Each signator further agreed that, no matter what happened to the partnership, the certificate of authority would continue to be binding on each of them until the bank received written revocation of the authority. No such revocation has ever been received by the bank.
Although there is no evidence that appellant ever came to Georgia, there is evidence that two of the partners, acting on behalf of the partnership, renewed the partnership's obligation to the bank three times after appellant signed a document authorizing them to do so, and the bank's suit is based on the last of these renewals. There is no question that the acts of Green and Cox constituted...
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