Opinion ID: 1320396
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the substantive jurisdictional issue: are the appellees subject to in personam jurisdiction by a wyoming court?

Text: In its findings of fact, the trial court found that Neal Ford was president of the defendant Colorado corporation and had business dealings within the State of Wyoming in his capacity as president. The court also found that Judy Ford was not an officer, shareholder or employee of the defendant corporation and that she had never been physically present in Wyoming except once when she passed through the state on unrelated business. The court found that both Fords were residents of Colorado and that the loan guarantee had been executed in Colorado. In a commendably able and detailed memorandum decision, the district court judge concluded that both Fords were subject to in personam jurisdiction by a Wyoming court. Section 5-1-107, W.S. 1977, Wyoming's long-arm statute, provides in subsection (a): (a) A Wyoming court may exercise jurisdiction on any basis not inconsistent with the Wyoming or United States constitution. The judge observed and we have said that it was the intention of the legislature to extend state court jurisdiction to the constitutional limit. See, Olmstead v. American Granby Co., Wyo., 565 P.2d 108, 114 (1977). The trial judge further observed that Olmstead can hardly be said [to have] exhausted the frontier and then went on to discuss cases from other jurisdictions in which the exercise of in personam jurisdiction had been expanded considerably. A Colorado case is very much in point. The opinion of the Colorado Court of Appeals in Vista Financial Corp. v. Tucker, 36 Colo. App. 412, 544 P.2d 643 (1975), although reversed in part, was affirmed with respect to the issue here under discussion. Tucker v. Vista Financial Corp., Colo., 560 P.2d 453 (1977). Judith Tucker, a resident of Colorado, cosigned in Colorado a note with her husband, Herbert Tucker. Judith also signed a disbursal authorization allowing the loan proceeds to be credited to Herbert's account in a California bank. The loan was made by a California bank and Herbert was apparently in California when the loan was made. Judith was sued in California on the note but chose not to appear. When the plaintiff sought to enforce the judgment in Colorado, Judith tested the validity of the judgment in the Colorado courts on the ground that California lacked in personam jurisdiction over her. The Colorado Supreme Court held that the California court did have jurisdiction over Judith with respect to the note that she had cosigned. Previously, the Colorado Supreme Court, in Van Schaack & Co. v. District Court, Eighteenth J.D., 189 Colo. 145, 538 P.2d 425, 426 (1975), had adopted the following summary of controlling United States Supreme Court case law from a prominent Oregon Supreme Court decision: `... [T]hree criteria can be said to define the present outer limits of in personam jurisdiction based on a single act: First, the defendant must purposefully avail himself of the privilege of acting in the forum state or of causing important consequences in that state. Second, the cause of action must arise from the consequences in the forum state of the defendant's activities. Finally, the activities of the defendant or the consequences of those activities must have a substantial enough connection with the forum state to make the exercise of jurisdiction over the defendant reasonable.' (Quoting from State ex rel. White Lumber Sales, Inc. v. Sulmonetti, 252 Or. 121, 448 P.2d 571, 574 (1968)). In applying this test to Judith Tucker, the Colorado Court of Appeals said: ... [T]he assumption of jurisdiction over Judith Tucker by the California courts did not violate due process. First, by signing the note payable in California and the authorization for the California bank to disburse funds, Judith Tucker did purposefully avail herself of the privilege of acting in California, and caused important consequences there. Without her signature there could have been no disbursal of the funds in California. Second, the cause of action against her arose from the signing of the note, but even more important had there been no disbursal of funds as authorized by Judith Tucker, there would have been no cause of action. Third, the activities have a substantial connection with California in that the note was payable to a California bank and the proceeds of the original note were deposited in a California bank and disbursed in California; hence, exercise of jurisdiction over Judith Tucker by the California courts was reasonable. 36 Colo. App. 412, 544 P.2d at 646. In its memorandum decision, the court in this case noted the striking similarity between the situations of Judy Ford and Judith Tucker and then applied a virtually identical analysis to conclude that the three-pronged test of White Lumber Sales, supra, was met when applied both to Judy Ford and to Neal Ford. The district court judge also found a Texas case to be analogous in which the New York guarantor of a loan made by a Texas business to his New York business was held subject to in personam jurisdiction in the Texas courts. Gubitosi v. Buddy Schoellkopf Products, Inc., Tex.Civ.App., 545 S.W.2d 528 (1976). The district court judge also relied on White Lumber Sales, supra, in which a Florida business was held subject to in personam jurisdiction in the Oregon courts by virtue of a telephone order to an Oregon business, albeit in a context of prior dealings. One of the arguments advanced by the Fords in attacking the district court's conclusion that the Fords are subject to in personam jurisdiction by a Wyoming court is that the judge failed to distinguish the activities of Judy Ford as compared to Neal Ford. We think that the judge's comparison of Judy Ford to Judith Tucker in the Colorado case discussed above shows that the judge did consider Judy Ford's lesser involvement, but that he determined that even this was a sufficient contact to justify in personam jurisdiction. We find further support for the district court's ruling with respect to Judy Ford in State ex rel. Ware v. Heiber, 267 Or. 124, 515 P.2d 721, 726 (1973), in which the Oregon Supreme Court allowed exercise of jurisdiction over nonresident husband and wife guarantors. The wife-guarantor in that case appeared very similarly situated to Judy Ford. Id., 515 P.2d at 726. The Fords also cite several cases in which in personam jurisdiction was not exercised in circumstances similar to those involved here. We are persuaded, however, by the authority discussed above, that the judge, acting under an express legislative command to find jurisdiction if constitutionally permissible, made a constitutionally sound determination that in personam jurisdiction could be exercised by a Wyoming court over the Fords.