Court Opinion

ID: 9481855
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:33:48.182157+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:37.308253
License: Public Domain

ROSENBAUM, District Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. It is clear that the law as stated in the majority opinion is accurate, but it is my view that this case is wrongly decided.
It is axiomatic that personal jurisdiction must be founded on minimum contacts with the forum state. Those minimum contacts must be substantial enough that the party could reasonably anticipate being haled into court in the forum state. The question of the sufficiency of contacts, however, turns on the facts and circumstances of each case. Austad Co. v. Pennie & Edmonds, 823 F.2d 223, 226 (8th Cir.1987). In my view, the facts and circumstances of this case support the exercise of personal jurisdiction over the defendant.
This is no ordinary vendor-vendee or commercial contractor case. This case involves a lawyer voluntarily soliciting an attorney-client relationship. Defendant, a lawyer, wrote a letter to Bohemian offering “... to represent you for the purpose of including you in the suit to collect your notes_” The letter also contained a consent paragraph which, by its terms, authorized defendant to represent Bohemian upon execution.
Defendant drafted the consent paragraph. Bohemian signed it and returned it to the defendant. While the district court characterized this contact as “sporadic mail correspondence,” I would suggest that soliciting a client for legal representation is neither a random nor a fortuitous contact. The ongoing relationship which inheres in the attorney-client relationship is exactly the kind of “continuing obligation” contemplated in Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 476, 105 S.Ct. 2174, 2184, 85 L.Ed.2d 528 (1985).
From the time that Bohemian accepted defendant’s offer of representation, defendant was obliged to represent his client faithfully. In this manner, I believe that defendant’s letter indicated a knowing consent to an ongoing relationship with the forum state, such that defendant could reasonably anticipate being haled into court there.
With the above facts in mind, I would find that defendant's actions were sufficient to establish personal jurisdiction. Defendant, by sending the letter, elected to assume the obligations inherent in the attorney-client relationship. Bohemian, by *538signing and returning the letter, consented to the future affiliation required to pursue their claim. By these actions, I would find that defendant purposely directed his actions to the forum state1 and, as a result, should be subject to its jurisdiction. Accordingly, I would reverse the district court’s decision.

. In this regard, the facts of this case can be distinguished from the facts in Austad, where the plaintiff initiated the contact with the defendant attorney. The Austad court specifically noted that the defendant law firm "did not actively seek out Austad as a client." Austad Co. v. Pennie & Edmonds, 823 F.2d at 226.