QUESTION

I am an individual living in one state and being sued in a state court in a different state. Does this other states court have juristiction over me

Asked on Apr 12th, 2019 on Business Law - Tennessee
More details to this question:
In a civil matter does one state court have the ability to collect on a default judgement against an individual living in another state. Neither parties do business in the others respective state.
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1 ANSWER

Appellate Practice Attorney serving New York, NY
You are subject to the subject to the jurisdiction of any state with which you have sufficient contacts (also if you agree to it as part of your contract with the other party).  While doing business in a state is certainly relevant to the issue of whether that state has jurisdiction over you, not doing business there is not dispositive.  A contact with the state is given more weight if it relates to the claim against you than if it is unrelated.  For example, the fact that you ordered goods from a retailer in another state will probably confer jurisdiction over you in that state if the claim relates to that order, but not if the claim is unrelated. If a default judgment is entered against you in a foreign state, the plaintiff will seek to enforce that judgment by entering it in a state where you have assets.  Your only defense to that suit would be a claim that the foreign state did not have jurisdiction over you.  You will not be able to defend on the merits.  Thus, if a default judgment is entered against you for goods that the plaintiff claims you didn't pay for, you will not be able to raise a defense on the merits (e.g. that you did pay for the goods) when the plaintiff tries to enter the judgment in your state unless you can establish that the first state didn't have jurisdiction over you, either because you were not properly served or because you don't have sufficient contacts with that state so that it can exercise jurisdiction over you.
Answered on Apr 16th, 2019 at 8:52 AM

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