Follow on Google News News By Tag Industry News News By Location Country(s) Industry News
Follow on Google News |  U.S District Court transfers case from Louisiana to Texas because Defendant lives and works thereAttorney K Todd Wallace successfully moves federal court case from Louisiana to Client Home State of Texas
By: Wallace Meyaski Law Firm 
K Todd Wallace, lawyer in New Orleans LA Comments K. Todd Wallace: "This order is of crucial importance in this case in that the Court properly concluded that it does not have personal jurisdiction over an individual client who lives and works in another state. Instead, to continue a lawsuit against him, it must be pursued in his home state of Texas." In this case, Plaintiffs Security Data Supply, LLC ("SDS"), and its franchise locations, brought claims for antitrust and price discrimination violations and violations of state laws in Louisiana, Texas, and California. While SDS is a wholesale distributor of electronic security systems and sells these systems through franchise retail locations, SDS filed antitrust and price discrimination claims against Defendants Nortek Security and Control ("Nortek"), Wave Electronics, Inc. ("Wave"), and Mr. Earnest Bernard. Nortek is a manufacturer of electronic security systems; Wave is a wholesale distributor of electronic security systems in competition with while E.B. is a former sales representative. SDS and Wave sell Nortek products in direct competition with each other. SDS alleges that while E.B. was employed at Nortek, he provided Wave with preferential pricing on Nortek products to the exclusion of Wave's competitors. SDS further alleges that Nortek sold identical products to SDS and Wave but intentionally discriminated in price, providing a lower price to Wave through a "Four Star Program," a type of rebate program. SDS believes that this program allowed Wave to sell Nortek products at a lower price than SDS could purchase them. SDS also alleges that Nortek management was aware of this preferential pricing scheme and allowed it to continue long after E.B. left the company. The defednatns, including E.B., has denied these unfounded allegations throughout the litigation. SDS alleges that they have been been injured and SDS has lost at least 59 clients and $9.5 million per year. Therefore, SDS bring claims against Defendants for violations of the Robinson-Patman Act ("RPA") (15 U.S.C. §13(a), (c), (d), (f)), and state law claims of corporate bribery and violations of state trade practices acts. E.B sought to dismiss all claims against him, in part, based upon a lack of personal jurisdiction in a Louisiana federal court. Judge Eldon E. Fallon of the Eastern District of Louisiana found that Mr. B. is an individual residing in the state of Texas. The Court noted that, since he was an employee of Nortek and worked in Texas, therefore, the Eastern District of Louisiana does not have general jurisdiction over him. Additionally, the Court found that Plaintiffs did not allege in their complaint that Mr. B. traveled to, or acted in, or directed any other actions within the state of Louisiana. Therefore, Mr. B. lacked sufficient contacts with Louisiana that would allow the Louisiana Court to exercise specific jurisdiction over him. Mr. Wallace states, "as you can imagine we are very pleased that the Court properly considered the arguments we presented that Mr. B. lacks sufficient minimum contacts with Louisiana necessary to force a non-resident to defend himself in another state. If this case is to continue, Texas is the only appropriate venue." The underlying court case is at https://law.justia.com/ About K. Todd Wallace, Attorney in New Orleans Mr. Wallace has nearly 20 years of experience in the legal and business professions with established excellence in trial advocacy, negotiation, strategic and initiative planning, employment law compliance, government relations, mergers and acquisitions, and team building. He received his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Loyola University College of Law, New Orleans, LA and while at Loyola, he served as the Managing Editor of the Loyola Law Review, and as a member of the William C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Team. Before law school, he received his Bachelor of Arts, Political Science, from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC. References Law Firm Website: http://www.walmey.com/ Lawyer Profiles at: http://lawyers.lawyerlegion.com/ https://solomonlawguild.com/ Attorney Profile: https://www.lawyers.com/ Lawyer Profile: http://www.lawyerdb.org/ http://www.lawyerdb.org/ Blog at: https://ktoddwallaceblog.blogspot.com End
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Account Phone Number