D2L Ltd. v. Biggs (Maryland. U.S.D.C.)

 Filed: August 22, 2019

Opinion by: Blake, J.

Holding: Plaintiff’s lawsuit for breach of a noncompetition agreement in Maryland against out of state defendants was dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction as the Defendant had little contact with Maryland, did not conduct but a small percentage of business with Maryland customers, and no evidence was offered that the Defendant had induced Plaintiff’s former employee to breach his obligations under the noncompetition agreement.

Facts: Plaintiff is a “global cloud software company” incorporated in Maryland and headquarted in Canada. Kevin Biggs, a California resident and former employee, was sued by Plaintiff on the basis of Plaintiff’s allegations that Biggs had violated his non-solicitation agreement with Plaintiff. This agreement provided a consent to suit in Maryland provision. After leaving his employment with Plaintiff, Biggs began working for Defendant OneLogin, a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in California, which also provides cloud-based services. Plaintiff advised OneLogin of the non-solicitation agreement, and subsequently alleged that OneLogin induced and materially benefited from Biggs' breach of the agreement.

 

Analysis: A state court may exercise personal jurisdiction under the 14^th amendment on an out-of-state defendant if the defendant had “minimum contacts” with the forum sufficient to put the defendant on notice that he might be sued in the forum in the future. Int’l Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 316 (1945). A court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a defendant based on general or specific jurisidiction.

 

The plaintiff has the burden to show that the court could exercise general jurisdiction over the defendant by demonstrating that the defendant’s contacts with the state are “continuous and systematic” making the defendant essentially at home in the forum state. Daimler AG v. Bauman, 571 U.S. 117, 127 (2014).

 

Three factors are considered to determine specific personal jurisdiction over a defendant (where the present lawsuit arises out of the defendant’s prior contacts with Maryland): “(1) the extent to which the defendant has purposefully availed itself of the privilege of conducting activities within the State; (2) whether the plaintiff’s claims [arose] out of those activities; and (3) whether the exercise of personal jurisdiction is constitutionally reasonable.” Universal Leather LLC v. Koro AR SA, 773 F.3d 553, 559 (4^th Cir. 2014). 

 

The Court found that it lacked general jurisdiction over the Defendant. The Defendant was neither organized under the laws of Maryland, nor was its principal place of business in Maryland. 

 

As for specific jurisdiction, the Court found that the Defendant only conducted a nominal amount of business in Maryland – one percent of its revenue and one to two percent of its total solicitation was derived from Maryland. Moreover, the Court found that none of these contacts were specifically connected to the allegations of breach of contract or tortious interference made by the Plaintiff.

 

The alternative theory offered by the Plaintiff was that Defendant had “encouraged,” “actively and wrongfully induced,” and “accepted the benefits of Biggs’ breach” of the agreement at issue in the case. However, the Court found that these general allegations lacked sufficient specificity as to when the solicitation happened, which employees were solicited, and where those employees were located.

 

Moreover, the Court denied the Plaintiff’s motion for jurisdictional discovery, as the Court concluded that the information sought by the Plaintiff would not provide additional facts to establish personal jurisdiction over the Defendant.

 

As a result, the Court concluded it lacked jurisdiction over the Defendant and dismissed the Plaintiff’s action against the Defendant.

 

Full opinion available in PDF.