Johnson v. Key Equipment Finance
| Citation | 627 S.E.2d 740 |
| Decision Date | 13 March 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 26124.,26124. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of South Carolina |
| Parties | Myron JOHNSON & Building Environmental Services, Inc., Appellants, v. KEY EQUIPMENT FINANCE, A Division of KCCI, CTI Business Management Systems, LLC, Paul M. Candelaria, Rick White, & Brenda Williams, of whom KEY EQUIPMENT FINANCE, A Division of KCCI, is Respondent. |
v.
KEY EQUIPMENT FINANCE, A Division of KCCI, CTI Business Management Systems, LLC, Paul M. Candelaria, Rick White, & Brenda Williams, of whom KEY EQUIPMENT FINANCE, A Division of KCCI, is Respondent.
Page 741
Peter Brandt Shelbourne, of Summerville, for Appellants.
Robert T. Strickland and Andrea C. Pope, both of Barnes, Alford, Stork and Johnson, of Columbia, for Respondent.
Acting Justice CLYDE N. DAVIS, JR.:
This case involves the scope of a forum selection clause contained in a lease agreement between Myron Johnson and Building Environmental Services (Appellants) and Key Equipment Finance (Key). We reverse.
Appellants entered into a lease agreement with Key to lease a telephone marketing system. The lease contained a provision which included a forum selection clause. The clause read in part:
This lease shall in all respects be interpreted and governed by the internal laws of the State of New York. You consent to and agree that personal jurisdiction over you and subject matter jurisdiction over the equipment shall be with courts of the State of New York or the Federal District Court for the Northern District of New York solely at our option with respect to any provision of the lease. . . .
Appellants received the equipment and began operating the equipment as directed. However, soon after implementing the marketing system, Appellants discovered that the equipment violated the Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991. Because of the violation of the consumer protection act, Appellants were subject to fines. As a result, Appellants filed suit against Key because Appellants discovered that Key was aware that the equipment was illegal prior to executing the lease. Accordingly, Appellants sued claiming that Key induced them into entering a contract to lease equipment that Key knew to be illegal.
Appellants brought this action alleging breach of contract, breach of contract accompanied by a fraudulent act, a violation of the South Carolina Unfair Trade Practices Act, and conspiracy. The trial judge granted Key's motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(2), SCRCP. The trial judge found the forum selection clause to be controlling and the clause prevented Appellants from filing suit in South Carolina. Appellants filed an appeal in the court of appeals and the case was certified to this Court pursuant to Rule 204(b), SCACR. The following issues are before this...
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...the discretion to order an evidentiary hearing on the matter. Id. at 85–86.Similarly, in Johnson v. Key Equipment Finance , 367 S.C. 665, 627 S.E.2d 740, 742 (2006), the South Carolina Supreme Court held that a fraud claim could defeat enforcement of a contract containing a choice-of-law an......
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Tetrev v. Pride Intern., Inc., C.A. No. 2:04-cv-23161-23.
...Controlling Law Tetrev submits that the South Carolina Supreme Court decision of Myron Johnson & Building Environmental Services, Inc. v. Key Equipment Finance, et al., 367 S.C. 665, 627 S.E.2d 740 (2006), is an intervening change in controlling law such that this court should reconsider it......
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T.R. Helicopters LLC v. Bell Helicopter Textron Inc, C/A No.: 3:10-2250-JFA
...litigation to remain in the State regardless of a forum selection clause, Plaintiff, in its brief, cited to Johnson v. Key Equipment Finance, 367 S.C. 665, 627 S.E.2d 740 (2006), and Minorplanet Systems USA Limited v. American Aire, Inc., 368 S.C. 146, 628 S.E.2d 43 (2006), both decided by ......
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T.R. Helicopters LLC v. Bell Helicopter Textron Inc
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