Joffe v. Cable Tech, Inc.

• Decision Date: 20 September 2005
• Docket Number: No. 05AP-40.,05AP-40.
• Citation: 2005 Ohio 4930,163 Ohio App.3d 479,839 N.E.2d 67
• Parties: JOFFE, Appellant, v. CABLE TECH, INC. et al., Appellees.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Page 67

839 N.E.2d 67

163 Ohio App.3d 479

2005-Ohio-4930

JOFFE, Appellant, v. CABLE TECH, INC. et al., Appellees.

No. 05AP-40.

Court of Appeals of Ohio, Tenth District, Franklin County.

Decided September 20, 2005.

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Kennedy & Knoll and Nicholas E. Kennedy, Columbus, for appellant.

Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, L.L.P., Susan M. DiMickele, and Lori Maiorca Zancourides, Columbus, for appellees.

FRENCH, Judge.

{¶ 1} Plaintiff-appellant, Matt Joffe, appeals from the judgment of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas that dismissed his case for lack of personal jurisdiction pursuant to Civ.R. 12(B)(2).

{¶ 2} On October 3, 2003, appellant filed a complaint against defendants-appellees, Cable Tech, Inc. and Bruce Stone, the Cable Tech national director of sales and quality systems. In the complaint, appellant alleged the following: (1) appellant was living and working in California when Cable Tech "became aware of [appellant]" through an employment placement agency and offered him a position in Columbus, Ohio; (2) "[t]hrough various phone conversations and emails that occurred in February and March of 2003, Stone, acting on behalf of Cable Tech, apprised [appellant] of the position of Field Service Technician, informed him that he was hired, and instructed him that his start date was March 21, 2003"; (3) Stone "provided [appellant] with an `offer of employment' letter that [appellant] signed and sen[t] back to Cable Tech indicating his acceptance of Cable Tech's terms"; (4) "[b]ased upon [appellees'] representations, [appellant] and his wife uprooted and moved to Columbus so that [appellant] could take the new position with Cable Tech"; (5) when appellant and his wife arrived in Columbus, appellees did not have work for appellant; and (6) at the end of April, Stone told appellant that "`we need only one employee in Ohio'" and that appellant would not be working for Cable Tech. Appellant asserted that he suffered damages from appellees' conduct and raised claims of "breach of contract/detrimental reliance," fraudulent inducement, unlawful discriminatory practices in violation of R.C. 4112.02 et. seq., and a violation of Ohio public policy.

{¶ 3} Appellees moved to dismiss appellant's complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction and improper venue pursuant to Civ.R. 12(B)(2) and 12(B)(3) respectively. Eric Stroud, Cable Tech president and chief executive officer, and Stone attached affidavits to the motion.

{¶ 4} Stroud's affidavit indicated the following: (1) Cable Tech is incorporated in Iowa with its principal place of business in Iowa; (2) Cable Tech provides service, installation, and maintenance to phone systems, including installing, moving or changing cable lines; (3) Cable Tech has never been licensed to do business in Ohio; (4) Cable Tech has never maintained an office in Ohio; (5) Cable Tech does not "regularly conduct business in Ohio"; (6) Cable Tech "has hired independent contractors * * * to provide services in the Cleveland area on behalf of Sprint * * * but these independent contractor jobs equate to less than 25 total hours worked in Ohio," and Sprint, "a non-Ohio based company," paid for the jobs "through its office" in Kansas; (7) "[a]round Spring 2003, Cable Tech was considering placing Field Service Technicians in Ohio, based on a new service contract it had acquired with Sprint to provide phone system services on behalf of Sprint," and it "appeared this would include significant work in the Columbus, Ohio area"; (8) the business opportunity with Sprint "was not realized, and so Cable Tech could not employ any Field Service Technicians for that area as planned"; (9) "[a]t no time were Cable Tech representatives present in Ohio related to the present dispute"; and (10) Stroud "would be significantly burdened if forced to defend this lawsuit in Ohio" because it "would be extremely difficult for both [him], as well as [his] employees, to travel to Ohio on what might result in several lengthy trips over the course of this litigation" and because "Cable Tech's business operations would be significantly disrupted by [his] absence, as well as the absence of other employees."

{¶ 5} Stone's affidavit indicated the following: (1) Cable Tech is incorporated in Iowa and has its principal place of business in Iowa; (2) Cable Tech has never been licensed to do business in Ohio; (3) Cable Tech does not regularly conduct business in Ohio; (4) Stone has "not been involved in the discreet subcontracting work [Cable Tech has] done in Ohio"; (5) Stone is an Iowa resident; (6) Stone has not been in Ohio in the last ten years and has never been in Ohio on behalf of Cable Tech, "including related to this matter"; (7) "[a]round the spring of 2003, [Stone] received information about [appellant], then a resident of California," through an employment placement agency; (8) Stone originally contacted appellant for work in California but learned that appellant was moving to Ohio and was interested in a position in Ohio; (9) "[m]ost communication[s] that occurred between [appellant] and [Stone] were exchanged via electronic mail or telephone while [appellant] resid[ed] in California, including his interview"; (10) "[a]t that time, Cable Tech was considering placing Field Service Technicians in Ohio, based on a new service contract it had acquired with Sprint"; (11) the Sprint contract "would include significant work in the Columbus, Ohio area"; (12) "[b]ecause of the unpredictability of this new business opportunity, [appellant], while still residing in California, was only offered a position to serve as an independent contractor for Cable Tech" and, after 60 days, appellant "would only become an employee of Cable Tech * * * if both Cable Tech and [appellant] mutually agreed that was desirable"; (13) "[o]ver the course of the next month or so, [appellant] and [Stone] exchanged a few electronic mail and telephone communications regarding the delay or possibly complete lack of work stemming from the Sprint business, totaling somewhere around three communications"; and (14) "[a]t the end of this time period, [Stone] communicated to [appellant] that Cable Tech could not employ any Field Service Technicians for that area as planned." Stone also stated in the affidavit that (1) "[d]uring all of [Stone's] communications with [appellant], [Stone] was physically present in Iowa"; and (2) defending this litigation in Ohio would burden Stone's professional obligations to Cable Tech. Lastly, Stone stated that (1) appellant moved to Ohio "even before responding to our offer of an independent contract relationship"; and (2) "[o]bviously, [appellant's] move to Ohio was not dependent on retaining employment with Cable Tech."

{¶ 6} Appellant filed a memorandum opposing appellees' motion to dismiss and attached copies of electronic mail communications between appellant and Stone. As an example, Stone sent a February 28, 2003 e-mail to appellant while appellant was in California and discussed the potential employment opportunity. Other electronic mail communications involved appellant, in Ohio, asking Stone when Cable Tech would start assigning work. The communications also denote Stone's responses to appellant's inquiries. In particular, in response to appellant's inquiries, on April 1, 2003, Stone told appellant that Cable Tech added appellant to the dispatch list, and on April 2, 2003, Stone told appellant that his "official start date" is April 7, 2003, "although it may move forward if we have a dispatch between now and then." After appellant asked Stone why Cable Tech had not assigned him work as of April 10, 2003, Stone responded that appellant could either "exercise some patience" or "resign now and we'll find another tech from the resumes in the area." Lastly, in response to appellant's April 14, 2003 question about when he would get work-related supplies, Stone assured appellant that he would be receiving a "welcome kit."

{¶ 7} On December 9, 2004, the trial court granted appellees' motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and improper venue pursuant to Civ.R. 12(B)(2) and 12(B)(3) respectively. Thus, the trial court dismissed appellant's complaint.

{¶ 8} Appellant appeals, raising one assignment of error:

The trial court erred in finding that the Franklin County Court Of Common Pleas lacked jurisdiction over appellees.

{¶ 9} Appellant's single assignment of error concerns the trial court's decision to dismiss appellant's complaint. Appellant does not challenge the trial court's decision to grant appellees' Civ.R. 12(B)(3) motion to dismiss for improper venue, and, therefore, we will not address the trial court's dismissal for improper venue. See App.R. 12(A) and 16(A). Rather, appellant contends that the trial court erred by dismissing his complaint upon granting appellees' Civ.R. 12(B)(2) motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. However, we disagree with appellant's contentions.

{¶ 10} Once a defendant moves to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, a plaintiff must establish that the trial court had personal jurisdiction over the defendant. Robinson v. Koch Refining Co. (June 17, 1999), Franklin App. No. 98AP-900, 1999 WL 394512; Giachetti v. Holmes (1984), 14 Ohio App.3d 306, 307, 14 OBR 371, 471 N.E.2d 165. If the trial court determines personal jurisdiction without holding an evidentiary hearing, the trial court must "view allegations in the pleadings and the documentary evidence in a light most favorable" to the plaintiff and resolve "all reasonable competing inferences" in favor of the plaintiff. Goldstein v. Christiansen (1994), 70 Ohio St.3d 232, 236, 638 N.E.2d 541; Giachetti at 307, 14 OBR 371, 471 N.E.2d 165; Robinson. Without an evidentiary hearing, a plaintiff need only establish a prima facie showing of personal jurisdiction. Giachetti at 307, 14 OBR 371, 471 N.E.2d 165; Robinson. A prima facie showing exists if a plaintiff produces sufficient...