Replevin – Contempt

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Trade Well International v. United Central Bank

Case No.: 15-3353

Officials: POSNER and FLAUM, Circuit Judges, and ALONSO, District Judge.*

Focus: Replevin – Contempt

Appellant motion to set aside default judgment fails.

“We cannot accept Trade Well’s contention that the district court lacked personal jurisdiction over it because Trade Well is a foreign corporation that did not have counsel at the time of the default judgments. By filing the original replevin action, Trade Well submitted itself to jurisdiction in Wisconsin for purposes of the replevin action and the counterclaim. In general, when a defendant interposes a permissive counterclaim, the plaintiff cannot object that the court lacks personal jurisdiction for purposes of adjudicating the claim. See Leman v. Krentler-Arnold Hinge Last Co., 284 U.S. 448, 451 (1932) (holding, in a patent case, that “[w]hen the [plaintiff] brought the suit in [federal district court], it submitted itself to the jurisdiction of the court with respect to all the issues embraced in the suit, including those pertaining to the counterclaim of the defendants”); 6 CHARLES ALAN WRIGHT & ARTHUR R. MILLER, FEDERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE § 1424 (3d ed. 2016). Moreover, a district court may exercise personal jurisdiction over any party that purposefully avails itself of the forum. J. McIntyre Mach., Ltd. v. Nicastro, 564 U.S. 873, 880 (2011). By filing suit in Wisconsin, Trade Well availed itself of the forum, whether by explicitly consenting to jurisdiction, waiving any challenge to jurisdiction, or simply receiving the privileges and benefits of the forum state. See id. at 880–81. Indeed, the purposeful availment inquiry is ultimately about whether the party should reasonably anticipate being haled into court in the forum state. Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 474 (1985). When a plaintiff files a claim in a particular state, he should reasonably expect to answer a counterclaim in that forum.”

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.