/>iHong Kong company found to have established sufficient minimum contacts with Iowa to permit the exercise of personal jurisdiction.
Court Summary:
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 14-3054
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Des Moines
[PUBLISHED] [Colloton, Author, with Chief Judge Riley and Kelly, Circuit Judges]
Civil Case - personal jurisdiction. Creative Calling, an Iowa corporation selling beauty products, contracted with LF Beauty in Hong Kong to manage Creative Calling's operations in China. Creative Calling's president traveled to Hong Kong; LF Beauty shipped samples and pre-production samples to Iowa. Creative Calling brought a breach of contract action in Iowa. The district court's dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction in this breach of contract action is reversed. Creative Calling presented sufficient fact for a reasonable jury to conclude that LF Beauty established minimum contacts with Iowa to permit the exercise of personal jurisdiction: LF Beauty solicited the business relationship, negotiated the contract, communicated daily via e-mail and telephone for nearly two years; the terms of the contract required LF Beauty to send pre-production samples for approval and in fact mailed thousands of samples; and LF Beauty received payments from customers on behalf of Creative Calling. The exercise of personal jurisdiction would not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice, as witnesses and evidence are in Iowa. The contract's selection of Hong Kong courts as a non-exclusive forum and its choice of Hong Kong law is not dispositive.
