Opinion ID: 2512182
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Submission to Jurisdiction

Text: [¶22] Finally, the Meyers argue that Design Workshop voluntarily submitted itself to jurisdiction in Wyoming by requesting attorneys' fees and costs. Courts in other jurisdictions have gone both ways on the issue of whether a party submits to personal jurisdiction by filing a motion for attorneys' fees. See In re Marriage of Adler, 648 N.E.2d 953, 956 (Ill. 1995) (moving for disbursement of escrow funds and attorneys' fees and costs is a request for affirmative relief and general appearance); Johnson v. Johnson, 662 P.2d 1178, 1182 (Kan. 1983) (personal jurisdiction established when attorneys' fees motion filed after objecting to court's jurisdiction); Associate Discount Corp. v. Haviland, 218 So.2d 59, 61-62 (La. App. 1969) (request for attorneys' fees is general appearance because it affirmatively invokes court's jurisdiction). Compare Heineken v. Heineken, 683 So.2d 194, 197-98 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1996) (attorneys' fees request did not waive defense of personal jurisdiction because it was a defensive action rather than a request for affirmative relief); Grange Ins. Ass'n v. State, 757 P.2d 933, 940-41 (Wash. 1988) (a request for attorneys' fees does not waive an objection to personal jurisdiction because the request is a defensive action and not a request for affirmative relief). [¶23] We believe the better approach is to conclude that a motion for attorneys' fees is not an affirmative action that invokes personal jurisdiction. Holding otherwise would allow one contracting party to force the other party to subject itself to a foreign jurisdiction or forgo its contractual right to attorneys' fees. Such a result does not further the parties' intent, as expressed in the contract, that litigation over the contract be undertaken at the risk of having to pay the successful party's attorneys' fees. Such provisions are intended to discourage litigation, not to encourage it in foreign jurisdictions.