Sporcam, Inc. v. Greenman Bros., Inc.

340 F. Supp. 1168, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14276
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Iowa
DecidedApril 10, 1972
DocketCiv. 11-360-C-2
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 340 F. Supp. 1168 (Sporcam, Inc. v. Greenman Bros., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sporcam, Inc. v. Greenman Bros., Inc., 340 F. Supp. 1168, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14276 (S.D. Iowa 1972).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

HANSON, Chief Judge.

This ruling is predicated upon defendant’s Motion to Dismiss and Quash Service and plaintiff’s Resistance to the same. The matter was heard on December 20, 1971. Plaintiff, Sporcam, Inc., is an Iowa corporation with its principal place of business in Iowa. Defendant, Greenman Bros., Inc., is a New York corporation with its principal place of business in New York. Plaintiff brought this action in state court, alleging breach of contract to purchase certain leaseholds of the plaintiff in Georgia and Florida. Defendant removed the action to federal court and immediately filed its Motion to Dismiss and Quash Service. Defendant asserts that the Court does not have jurisdiction over its person because Iowa Code Section 617.3, the contracts single act statute, was not intended to reach it under these particular facts. Defendant further asserts that it does not have sufficient minimum contacts with the State of Iowa to enable this Court to exercise in personam jurisdiction over it consonent with the due process principles of the Constitution of the United States.

FACTS

From the pleadings and affidavits on file in this cause the .following facts appear to be uncontested:

Defendant was not and is not qualified to do business in the State of Iowa, does not have any office or place of business in the State of Iowa, does not maintain any stock of goods or real property in the State of Iowa, and has no resident agent, servant or employee within the State.

In the fall of 1970 plaintiff’s president went to New York to talk with the defendant for the purpose of obtaining an open line of credit with the defendant. During these negotiations, in November of 1970, defendant’s president, a Mr. Bernard Greenman, and its vice-president, a Mr. Sidney Shotland, asked plaintiff’s president if he would be willing to sell plaintiff company. The parties subsequently entered into negotiations on this matter, all face-to-face negotiations occurring outside of the State of Iowa. There were, however, several telephone and letter exchanges between plaintiff in Des Moines and defendant in New York, some of which were initiated by defendant in New York.

In January of 1971, plaintiff mailed to defendant in New York, at defendant’s request, a copy of plaintiff’s license agreements, additional financial information concerning the company, and a resume of each of plaintiff’s managers.

The first draft of the sales contract was prepared in New York by defendant’s attorneys and mailed to plaintiff’s president in Chicago, where he was attending a meeting. Plaintiff’s president took the proposed contract to Des Moines and reviewed it with plaintiff’s attorneys. Plaintiff’s attorneys called from Des Moines to defendant’s attorneys in New York and discussed possible changes in the proposed 'agreement. Subsequently, in late February of 1971, defendant sent to plaintiff in Des Moines an amendment agreement. Plaintiff’s president and its attorneys agreed to further changes, which changes were then agreed to by *1171 defendant’s attorneys through a telephone conversation between Des Moines and New York. The contract was entered into finally in New York on March 11, 1971.

The contract provided for the sale to the defendant of plaintiff’s leasehold interest in license agreements pertaining to leased departments in stores of Bellex Department Stores, Inc., located in Marietta, Hapeville, and Chamblee, Georgia, and in Clearwater, Florida. In addition to proper instruments of title, plaintiff was to convey to defendant all books, records and data relating to the assets, properties, business, customers, and operations of the plaintiff pertaining to the leasehold interests. The purchase price to be paid to plaintiff was to be kept in a special account designated by defendant, such funds to be withdrawn only on the joint signature of an officer of the plaintiff and an officer of the defendant, and to be utilized solely to pay creditors of the plaintiff existing immediately following the contemplated closing. The closing of the sale was to take place in New York at a date to be established, after defendant received plaintiff’s audited financial statements.

The plaintiff was required to warrant the following propositions: (1) that the transaction was authorized by the board of directors, unanimously approved by the shareholders, and was in compliance with applicable [Iowa] law, and that plaintiff has delivered to defendant documents certified by plaintiff’s secretary attesting thereto; (2) that plaintiff had delivered an unaudited balance sheet and related unaudited statement of operations for the period ending December 27, 1970, and that plaintiff had had prepared by Mc-Gladrey, Hanson, Dunn & Company, certified public accountants, [the Des Moines branch of this firm had been plaintiff’s accountant at all times previously], a balance sheet relative to the leasehold interests to be transferred for the ten-month period prior to February 28, 1971; (S) that plaintiff shall pay all its creditors the amounts owed to them as they become due; (4) that plaintiff, after December 27, 1970, had made no transaction which would change its financial position, i. e., incurred no obligation or liability, fixed or contingent, except the obligations under the instant agreement and except trade or business obligations incurred in the ordinary course of business, none of which have had or would have an adverse effect upon the condition, financial or otherwise, of plaintiff's business; incurred no damage, destruction or loss, whether or not covered by insurance, adversely affecting its property or business; entered into no transactions other than in the ordinary course of business; mortgaged, pledged or subjected to lien, charge, security interest, or to any other encumbrance none of its assets or properties; and suffered no adverse change in its financial condition, properties or business; (5) that plaintiff had filed all tax returns and paid all taxes due to federal, state, and local governments; (6) that plaintiff owned or leased no other real property, except that listed in the agreement; (7) that plaintiff had delivered to defendant with respect to the leaseholds to be transferred all policies of insurance, all contracts and commitments to which plaintiff was a party, all employer-employee agreements, and the names and rates of pay of all employees; (8) that defendant has the right to cancel any open purchase orders for merchandise for the leaseholds, and in the event such orders cannot be cancelled, plaintiff must take shipment of such non-cancelled merchandise at its Des Moines store, and indemnify and hold defendant harmless against and from any liability for such merchandise; (9) that the plaintiff shall not and had not during the sixty days previous to the signing of the agreement transferred to the leaseholds any merchandise from its Des Moines departments; and, (10) that plaintiff had supplied to defendant (a) the aggregate gross sales figure of each leasehold proposed to be transferred since the commencement of operations thereof by plaintiff through December 27, 1970, (b) a complete and accurate itemization of all fixed assets and furniture and fixtures *1172 of plaintiff at said leaseholds and the depreciated amount of each such item as carried on the books of plaintiff at February 28, 1971.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
340 F. Supp. 1168, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14276, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sporcam-inc-v-greenman-bros-inc-iasd-1972.