Meachum v. Worthen Bank & Trust Co.

682 S.W.2d 763, 13 Ark. App. 229, 1985 Ark. App. LEXIS 1733
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 16, 1985
DocketCA 83-468
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 682 S.W.2d 763 (Meachum v. Worthen Bank & Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Meachum v. Worthen Bank & Trust Co., 682 S.W.2d 763, 13 Ark. App. 229, 1985 Ark. App. LEXIS 1733 (Ark. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinions

Melvin Mayfield, Judge.

This is an appeal from a trial judge’s decision that found the appellant, H. Wayne Meachum, liable as guarantor of a lease agreement between Telecompo of Arkansas and the appellee, Worthen Bank & Trust Company.

Evidence not in dispute reveals that appellant is an attorney who resides and practices in Dallas, Texas. He is also an officer, a director, and general counsel of Composition Management Company (CMC), a Texas corporation with its principal place of business in Dallas. CMC was intended to be the center for a network of outlying stations which would feed data to CMC for computerized typesetting. CMC’s marketing director, Jerry Sizemore, negotiated with Arkansas resident Charles Thornton, who agreed to set up a station in Conway, Arkansas, with CMC providing part of the financing. Pursuant to this agreement, Thornton formed Telecompo of Arkansas. CMC then purchased two computers and allied items and sold them for $19,936.68 to the appellee, Worthen Bank, whose leasing agent, First Arkansas Leasing Corporation (FALCO), in turn leased the equipment to Telecompo. Before agreeing to purchase and lease the equipment, the appellee required several guaranties including the individual guaranty of appellant. The appellant sent his financial statement to the appellee and then signed the lease guaranty in Dallas in his individual capacity and as an officer for CMC.

Telecompo subsequently defaulted on the lease agreement. Six months later the appellee repossessed the equipment and sixteen months after repossession the equipment was sold for $1,000.00. Meanwhile, the appellee instituted this action on the lease agreement and on trial the court found Telecompo and each of the individual guarantors jointly and severally liable for the amount of the remaining lease payments minus the $1,000.00 received from the sale.

The trial court found jurisdiction over the appellant based on our long-arm statute, Ark. Stat. Ann. § 27-2502 (Repl. 1979), which states that a trial court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a person as to a cause of action “arising from the person’s . . . transacting any business in this State. ...” The appellant’s first argument on appeal is that he did not transact any business in Arkansas within the meaning of the statute and, therefore, the trial court erred in finding that it had personal jurisdiction over him. We do not agree.

It has been held that each question of jurisdiction must be decided on a case-by-case basis. Gardner Engineering Corp. v. Page Engineering Co., 484 F.2d 27 (8th Cir. 1973). In Jagitsch v. Commander Aviation Corporation, 9 Ark. App. 159, 655 S.W.2d 468 (1983), this court set out the two-part analysis to be used in determining whether a trial court had jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant. First, we must decide whether the nonresident’s actions satisfy the “transacting business” requirement of our long-arm statute and, second, we must decide whether the exercise of in personam jurisdiction is consistent with due process.

The Arkansas legislature intended for the term “transacting business” to be construed “to expand jurisdiction to the modern constitutional limit.” Mountaire Feeds, Inc. v. Agro Impex, S.A., 677 F.2d 651 (8th Cir. 1982); SD Leasing, Inc. v. Al Spain and Associates, Inc., 277 Ark. 178, 640 S.W.2d 451 (1982). Using this liberal standard, we think the appellant in the instant case was “transacting business” in Arkansas within the meaning of our long-arm statute. Appellant was extensively involved with CMC as director, officer and general counsel, and CMC was directly responsible for the formation of Telecompo, the lessee corporation. Telecompo was formed in Arkansas and the appellant personally drafted its articles of incorporation and mailed them to Arkansas. CMC was also instrumental in the negotiation and execution of the lease agreement between appellee and Telecompo and the appellant’s individual guaranty was clearly required by appellee because of his extensive involvement with CMC. These same facts also indicate that the court’s exercise of personal j urisdiction was consistent with due process.

In International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310 (1945), the United States Supreme Court stated that due process requires only that certain “minimum contacts” exist between the nonresident and the forum state “such that the maintenance of the suit does not offend ‘traditional notions of fair play and subs tan tial j usdce’. ” Id. at 316. The Supreme Court further discussed the minimum contacts concept in McGee v. International Life Ins. Co., 355 U.S. 220 (1957), where it held that for purposes of due process, a single contract could provide the basis for the exercise of jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant if the contract had “substantial connection with [the forum] State.”

We think that the lease agreement which appellant guaranteed clearly had substantial connection with Arkansas. In reaching this conclusion, we have considered the five factors outlined by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in Aftanese v. Economy Baler Co., 343 F.2d 187 (8th Cir. 1965) and recognized by this court in Jagitsch, supra. These factors are to be considered in determining whether due process requirements have been satisfied and are listed in Jagitsch as follows:

(1) the nature and quality of the contacts with the forum state; (2) the quantity of contacts with the forum state; (3) the relation of the cause of action to the contacts; (4) the interest of the forum state in providing a forum for its residents; and (5) the convenience to the parties.

Id. at 163.

Although appellant’s contacts with Arkansas may have been few, we find that those contacts were substantial in nature and quality. Knowing that the appellee would require his individual guaranty, the appellant sent his financial statement to the appellee in Arkansas and then signed the guaranty agreement which was contained in the lease of personal property between two Arkansas corporations, and admits that he knew the lease would be sent to the appellee in Arkansas, that the property was in Arkansas, and that the payments would be made in Arkansas. In Telerent Leasing Corp. v. Equity Associates, 245 S.E.2d 229 (N.C. Ct. App. 1978), the court held that the fact that a nonresident appellant guaranteed a debt owed to a North Carolina resident was by itself sufficient contact to withstand a due process challenge to the exercise of in personam j urisdiction over that appellant.

The remaining factors are also present in this case.

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Bluebook (online)
682 S.W.2d 763, 13 Ark. App. 229, 1985 Ark. App. LEXIS 1733, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/meachum-v-worthen-bank-trust-co-arkctapp-1985.