Davis Metals, Inc. v. Allen, 27727
| Decision Date | 24 May 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 27727,27727 |
| Citation | 230 Ga. 623,198 S.E.2d 285 |
| Parties | DAVIS METALS, INC. v. W. Caldwell ALLEN. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
William F. Lozier, Atlanta, for appellant.
Long, Weinberg, Ansley & Wheeler, J. Stephen Jenkins, Atlanta, for appellee.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court
This case is here because this court granted an application for a writ of certiorari to the Court of Appeals of Georgia. The sole issue for decision in the case is the construction or interpretation of Georgia's Long Arm Statute, Code Ann. § 24-113.1(a).
The appellant brought this action in the Georgia forum for breach of contract against the nonresident appellee. In personam jurisdiction over the nonresident of the State of Georgia in the Georgia court was predicated solely on Georgia's Long Arm Statute. The complaint alleged that at the time of filing the action the appellee was a resident of Alabama; that on January 6, 1969, appellant and appellee entered into an employer-employee noncompetition contract; that on January 6, 1969, both parties were residents of the State of Georgia; that the contract was executed by both parties in Georgia, and the contract itself provided that it was to be construed and interpreted under the laws of the State of Georgia; that appellee's first work for the appellant after the execution of the contract was in the appellant's Georgia office; and that the appellee quit his employment, moved to the State of Alabama, and entered business in Alabama in competition with the appellant, thereby breaching the contract.
The trial court dismissed the appellant's complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction over the appellee, and on appeal the Court of Appeals of Georgia affirmed the trial court's judgment. See Davis Metals Inc. v. Allen, 127 Ga.App. 611, 194 S.E.2d 516 (1972).
We consider the judgment of the Court of Appeals to be erroneous, and it must be reversed.
We perceive the defect in the decision of the Court of Appeals to be contained in one sentence: 'Defendant's liability here, if any, did not arise from any business transaction in Georgia, but instead from the defendant's competing outside Georgia in the State of Alabama.'
The competition by the appellee in Alabama in and of itself would not give rise to a cause of action in favor of the appellant. If there was no contract in existence between the parties, then the appellee would be completely free to compete with the appellant in Alabama and anywhere else. The act that gives birth to a cause of action because of the competition carried on in Alabama is the contract entered into by the parties in the State of Georgia. The Georgia contract gives the appellant a cause of action if a breach occurs, and it is immaterial if the breach occurs within or without the State of Georgia.
Our Long Arm Statute provides that a court of this state may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident, as to a cause of action arising from any act of the nonresident, if the nonresident 'transacts any business within this State.' The only...
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