The Ninth Circuit recently reversed a California District Court’s finding of personal jurisdiction against a foreign bank, and found it did not waive appeal on that issue by asserting defenses. The Ninth Circuit stated that “[o]ur cases are clear that once the issue of personal jurisdiction has been adjudicated on the merits against a party, that party may fully participate and defend the litigation up to and including filing its own counterclaim.” It distinguished cases relied upon by the Central District of California as inapposite, as they involved circumstances where: (1) the defense was listed in the answer but never affirmatively litigated; and (2) where the defendant did not avail himself of the opportunity to conduct discovery on the jurisdictional issue and renew its motion to dismiss if the evidence supported a lack of personal jurisdiction. Here, the Bank timely asserted personal jurisdiction as a defense and litigated the issue to a decision from the district court: “[n]othing more was required to preserve the issue, and subsequent litigation of defenses and counterclaims did not waive the Bank’s properly preserved defense of personal jurisdiction.”
The Court further found that the Bank did not have sufficient contacts with the United States to establish personal jurisdiction over the contract claims asserted by Plaintiffs. The Bank “entered into a contract with a Cayman Islands corporation to provide pre-paid cards in the UAE. There is no indication that the Bank conducted any unilateral activities in California… [and] certainly no evidence that any minimal contacts with California, through email and phone calls to California or through an investigation conducted in California by one of the Bank’s agents, form the basis for [Plaintiff’s] contract-focused claims, which raise from the Bank’s and [Plaintiff’s] conduct in the UAE.”
The Court also reversed the judgment compelling arbitration the contract claims and remanded for dismissal due to the lack of personal jurisdiction over the Bank.
InfoSpan, Inc. v. Emirates NBD Bank PJSC, 16-55090 (USCA 9th Cir. Sept. 7, 2018)
