Court Opinion

ID: 9631959
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 10:56:59.869275+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:08:04.939268
License: Public Domain

Herd, J.:
I respectfully dissent. The long arm statute is a necessary tool for the proper administration of justice; however, it has the potential for misuse. This is such a case. Here, New York plaintiffs employ two New Yorkers and two New Jerseyians for at-will employment in New York. In the course of their employment, the employees are sent all over the country to perform work for the employers. A part of the work assignment occurred in Kansas (43 days). The employees terminated their employment while in New York. The employers sued them in Kansas. All of the allegations in the employers’ petition pertain directly to the employees’ New York termination of their employment.
I am unable to see how these four New York employees “purposefully directed” their activities at residents of Kansas resulting in injuries to the New York employers which arose “out of or relate to” those activities. See Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia v. Hall, 466 U.S. 408, 414, 80 L. Ed. 2d 404, 104 S. Ct. 1868 (1984); Keeton v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 465 U.S. 770, 774, 79 L. Ed. 2d 790, 104 S. Ct. 1473 (1984).
I would affirm the district court.
Holmes and McFarland, J.J., dissenting.