Opinion ID: 381875
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Transacting Business.

Text: 25 Judge Pratt noted that Covington relies on communications between the parties in Atlanta and Switzerland in the form of telexes to show that Resintex transacted business in Georgia. These telexes led to the establishment of letters of credit in favor of Resintex to pay for denim which was shipped to Haitex, Covington's subsidiary in Haiti. A comparison between these contacts and contacts in several cases interpreting subsection (a) of the Georgia long-arm statute is useful in determining whether the Georgia courts would extend the jurisdictional welcome mat to these parties. Thorington v. Cash, 494 F.2d 582, 584 (5th Cir. 1974). 26 Judge Pratt cited O.N. Jonas Co. v. B & P Sales Corp., 232 Ga. 256, 206 S.E.2d 437 (1974), as a leading case on the scope of the Georgia statute. In Jonas, agents of the nonresident appellees visited the appellant's plant in Georgia, purchased goods from the appellant by mail or telephone and had the goods shipped F.O.B. shipping point. Holding that these contacts were insufficient for subsection (a) jurisdiction, the Georgia Supreme Court stated that transacting business within the state required that a nonresident purposefully do an act or consummate a transaction within the state, that the cause of action arise from or be connected with that act or transaction, and that the resulting jurisdiction not offend notions of traditional fairness and substantial justice. Id. at 439. In Pennington v. Toyomenka, Inc., 512 F.2d 1291 (5th Cir. 1975), the Fifth Circuit held that jurisdiction in Georgia was not proper where the New York defendant communicated by mail and telephone with the Georgia corporations, sent goods to the corporations in Georgia and negotiated checks drawn on Atlanta banks. 27 The district court in Fowler Products Co. v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co., 413 F.Supp. 1339 (M.D.Ga.1976), stated that subsection (a) did not authorize jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant corporation which purchased manufactured goods from a Georgia corporation after sending specifications and a sales agreement by mail into Georgia and then accepting delivery F.O.B. Georgia. Although noting that the trend in Georgia is to construe subsection (a) most liberally, the court also cited Hanson v. Denckla, 357 U.S. 235, 78 S.Ct. 1228, 2 L.Ed.2d 1283 (1958), as a reminder that this type of trend did not herald(s) the eventual demise of all restrictions on the personal jurisdiction of state courts. Id. at 251, 78 S.Ct. at 1238. See also Interstate Paper Corp. v. Air-O-Flex Equipment Co., 426 F.Supp. 1323 (S.D.Ga.1977) (no jurisdiction over nonresident corporation which manufactured goods ordered through mail by Georgia corporation and shipped goods F.O.B. shipping point) and Charia v. Cigarette Racing Team, Inc., 583 F.2d 184 (5th Cir. 1978) (insufficient contacts with forum state (Louisiana) to satisfy due process where Florida defendant, pursuant to mail and telephone communications, manufactured a boat for plaintiff, negotiated plaintiff's checks drawn on a Louisiana bank, and shipped the boat to Louisiana F.O.B. Florida). 28 The facts in the instant case clearly do not supply sufficient contacts to establish jurisdiction under subsection (a) of the Georgia long-arm statute. The parties agree that Resintex is a Swiss corporation headquartered in Switzerland. Resintex asserts that it does not have offices or do business in the United States. The telex communications and letters of credit constitute the only contact Resintex or Susskind have had with Georgia. The goods were delivered to Haitex in Haiti and Resintex sent invoices for the goods to Georgia through normal banking channels when it drew on the letters of credit. We are unable to locate any Georgia decision which holds that such minimal contacts with the forum state can justify labeling these activities as transacting business. Although the Georgia courts may construe subsection (a) in a liberal manner as stated in Fowler, no decision seems to reach as far as Covington would have us go in the instant case. We are constrained to hold, therefore, that Judge Pratt's application of the transacting business section of the Georgia long-arm statute was proper. 29