Personal Jurisdiction “is the power of a court to render a personal judgement, or to subject the parties in a particular case to the decisions and rulings made by it in such a case.” YP, LLC v. Ristich, 341 Ga. App. 381 (1) (801 SE2d 80) (2017). Georgia residents are, without question, subject to personal jurisdiction in this state. See Watts v. Allstate Ins. Co., 214 Ga. App. 462, 463.
The Georgia Court of Appeals confronted this issue of consent to general jurisdiction in McCall v. Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., Case No. A20A0933 (decided June 1, 2020). In that case, the Georgia Court of Appeals, relying upon a 1992 decision of the Georgia Supreme Court, held that under Georgia’s Long Arm Statute, a business that has registered to do business in Georgia must be treated as a resident for purposes of personal jurisdiction. Therefore, a corporation that registers to do business in Georgia is subject to the general jurisdiction of Georgia courts.
McCall involved a claim of negligence, strict product liability, and punitive damages, against Cooper Tires. McCall’s complaint alleges that he was a passenger in a vehicle that was equipped with a rear tire designed, manufactured, and sold by Cooper Tire. As the vehicle was traveling on a Florida roadway, the tire tread “suddenly failed and separated from the remainder of the tire. The driver lost control of the vehicle, which left the roadway and rolled over until it came to rest in a nearby wooded area. McCall sustained severe injuries from the crash. Cooper Tire answered the compliant and amongst other defenses raised the defense of lack of personal jurisdiction. Id. Cooper argued that “as a non-resident corporate defendant with only minimal contacts in Georgia, it is not subject to personal jurisdiction in the state.” Cooper Tire is incorporated in Delaware and maintains its principal place of business in Ohio. McCall argued that such circumstances do not make it a Georgia resident for jurisdictional purposes. The trial court agreed and granted Cooper Tire’s motion to dismiss.
O.C.G.A § 90-10-91 defines the grounds for exercising personal jurisdiction over non-residents. In certain circumstances, Georgia courts may exercise personal jurisdiction over non-residents pursuant to Georgia’s Long Arm Statue. In this case the long arm statute was not considered due to binding precedent that establishes that Cooper Tire was in fact a resident corporation subject to suit in Georgia. Allstate Ins. Co. v Klein, 262 Ga. 599,601 (422 SE2d 863) (1992), determined that “a foreign corporation authorized to do or transact business in Georgia at the time a claim arises is a resident for purposes of personal jurisdiction over that corporation in an action filed in the courts of the state.” Klein, explicitly holds that a foreign corporation authorized to do business in this state is a Georgia resident for jurisdictional purposes. Due to the fact that Cooper Tire is a resident corporation subject to personal jurisdiction in this state, the trial court erred in granting the motion to dismiss.
The defense of lack of Personal Jurisdiction will always fail for non-resident corporations who are authorized, and do transact business, in the state of Georgia.