BEST FORM, INC., APPELLANT,
v.
RICHARDS PRODUCTS, INC., UNIVERSAL LABORATORIES, INC., APPELLEES
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The court held that the trial court misinterpreted Minnesota law regarding personal jurisdiction, and thus erred in refusing to enforce the Minnesota judgment against Universal Laboratories.
[1] A defendant who did not appear in the rendering state is entitled to litigate the issue of personal jurisdiction in the enforcing state.
[2] The validity of a foreign judgment is determined by the law of the state that rendered the judgment.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceBest Form obtained a default judgment in Minnesota against Universal and Richards for misrepresentation. When Best Form sought to enforce the judgment…
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KLEIN, Judge.
We reverse a denial of recognition of a Minnesota judgment because we conclude that the trial court misinterpreted Minnesota law when he concluded that Minnesota did not have personal jurisdiction over the defendants.
Appellant Best Form, Inc., sued appellees Universal Laboratories, Inc., and Richards Products, Inc., in Minnesota alleging that they had misrepresented nutritional supplements which they had produced and sold to Best Form. Universal and Richards did not appear in Minnesota and suffered a default judgment and thereafter a money judgment.
Best Form then sought to enforce the judgment in Florida, and Universal and Richards claimed the Minnesota judgment should not be given full faith and credit in Florida because Minnesota did not have personal jurisdiction over them. The trial court concluded, after hearing evidence, that under Minnesota law Universal and Richards had insufficient contacts in order for Minnesota to have personal jurisdiction over them and refused to enforce the Minnesota judgment.
A preliminary issue is whether the issue of personal jurisdiction in Minnesota can now be litigated in Florida. Since the defendants did not appear in Minnesota and thus did not litigate that issue, they are entitled to raise that issue in Florida. Riskin v. Miklos, 569 So. 2d 940 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990), Ratner v. Hensley, 303 So. 2d 41 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974), and § 81, Restatement (Second) of Judgments, illustration 1. See also, Haas v. Haas, 59 So. 2d 640 (Fla.1952) (if the court of the foreign state rendering the judgment has expressly litigated jurisdictional questions, those issues are res judicata). Defendants were thus entitled to litigate in Florida whether Minnesota had personal jurisdiction over them.
Although the trial court properly looked to Minnesota law1 in order to decide this issue, we conclude that he misinterpreted Minnesota law when he determined that Minnesota had no personal jurisdiction over Universal Laboratories, Inc.-
At the evidentiary hearing in Florida Best Form’s president testified that Best Form was a wholesale and mail order business in Minnesota and sold Universal products. He further testified that he had been contacted by a Universal agent in Minnesota, Ed Bedsted, and by Universal’s out-of-state salesman, David Taylor. He testified that Universal products were being distributed to other outlets in Minnesota including General Nutrition Centers, and that a well-known bodybuilder passed out promotional posters with Universal’s name on them in Minnesota.
Ed Bedsted, who owned a gym in Minnesota, testified that he had been contacted by Universal and became their distributor for resale of their products in Minnesota. He displayed their products at trade shows and bodybuilding contests and attempted to keep any unhappy customers of Universal happy by replacing unsatisfactory Universal products. Universal had placed an advertisement in a national magazine showing Bedsted as a distributor of Universal products, and Universal advertisements named Bedsted as a Universal distributor in Minnesota.
In Rostad v. On-Deck, 372 N.W. 2d 717 (Minn.1985), the Minnesota Supreme Court held that the New Jersey manufacturer of a product was subject to personal jurisdiction in Minnesota when its defective product injured a person in Minnesota. Although the manufacturer had no offices or agent in Minnesota, its product was sold in Minnesota through distributors. The Minnesota Supreme Court adopted the “stream of commerce” theory of Worldwide Volkswagen v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286, 100 S.Ct. 559, 62 L.Ed.2d 490 (1980), and concluded that the manufacturer’s marketing efforts to create a national market for its product and the placing of its product in the stream of commerce to serve national markets which included Minnesota subjected the manufacturer to personal jurisdiction in Minnesota.
Because of the similarity between the facts in this case, which are not in dispute, and the facts in Rostad, we conclude that the trial court misinterpreted Minnesota law when he denied enforcement of the Minnesota judgment against Universal. Since Best Form makes no argument on appeal that there were facts which would have given Minnesota personal jurisdiction over Richards Products, Inc., we affirm as to Richards, but reverse and remand for the trial court to grant en forcement of the Minnesota judgment against Universal Laboratories, Inc. WARNER and PARIENTE, JJ., concur. . The validity of a foreign judgment under these circumstances is determined by the law of the state rendering the judgment. Milligan v. Wilson, 130 So. 2d 644 (Fla. 2d DCA 1961), and cases cited therein.
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Whipple v. JSZ Fin. Co., Inc., 885 So. 2d 933 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004)…So. 2d 1040 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998)(where foreign judgment was entered by default and defendant had no prior opportunity to answer or contest jurisdiction, he could litigate that issue in Florida court); accord Best Form, Inc. v. Richards Prods., Inc., 631 So. 2d 1123, 1124 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994). In this case, there is no dispute that the Texas judgment was entered against Whipple by default. Whipple argues that her failure to respond was because she was not properly served and therefore had no notice. The case of…
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Wellington v. Dep't OF Revenue, 708 So. 2d 1040 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998)…was entered against appellant by default. He did not appear, answer or contest jurisdiction. He is, therefore, entitled to now raise the issue of whether the Iowa court had personal jurisdiction over him. Best Form, Inc. v. Richards Products, Inc., 631 So. 2d 1123 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994); Riskin v. Miklos, 569 So. 2d 940 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990); Ratner v. Hensley, 303 So. 2d 41 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974), and Restatement (Second) of Judgments, § 81, illus. 1. See also, Haas v. Haas, 59 So. 2d 640 (Fla.1952) (if the court of t…
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Hesser v. Flick, 737 So. 2d 610 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999)…e issue of whether the Alabama court properly acquired jurisdiction over him in this action or in a separate action brought to enforce the Alabama final judgment, if he has not already done so in Alabama. See Best Form, Inc. v. Richards Prod., Inc., 631 So. 2d 1123, 1124 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994) (the issue of personal jurisdiction in Minnesota can be litigated in Florida action brought to enforce Minnesota judgment where defendants did not appear in Minnesota action); Riskin v. Miklos, 569 So. 2d 940, 941 (Fla. 3d…
Authorities Cited
- World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286 (U.S. 1980)
- Sanford Ratner v. Willa Mae Hensley, 303 So. 2d 41 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974)
- Riskin v. Miklos, 569 So. 2d 940 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990)
- Milligan v. Wilson, 130 So. 2d 644 (Fla. 2d DCA 1961)