Legal Question in Business Law in Tennessee

Re: Paid for print advertising - Publication never came out

Yes, you have a small claims case. The practicality is, even if you were to file your case in California, you would then have to take your judgment to TN and get a sister-state judgment there before you can try to collect (unless the publisher has a bank account or other assets in CA). You might dispute it with the credit card company if you paid by credit card. Good luck!

Good news

If the company reached out and contacted you in CA to initiate the paid advertising, then you are in luck. You would be able to sue them in CA. If you contacted them, but they still mail their publication to CA businesses, then you can probably still file suit in CA. You will want to look up "California Long Arm Statute" on the Internet and see if you can construct a series of arguments for why CA courts have jurisdiction over the matter.

Here is a sample of what I wrote in a Tennessee pleading:

3. This court has in personam jurisdiction over the Defendants under the Tennessee Long Arm Statute, Tenn. Code Ann. � 20-2-201, the Defendants having established substantial contacts with Tennessee. The following non-exhaustive list of activities and contacts by the Defendants in and with the state of Tennessee also make it fair, equitable, and convenient for the defendants to defend these causes of action in this state:

i. This controversy arose out of a series of financial transactions and signing of business contracts solicited by Defendants from Plaintiff from his home office in Roane County, Tennessee.

ii. Defendants with Plaintiff produced a twenty-six-page legal newspaper that was sent to approximately 3,200 attorneys across the state of Tennessee, from Memphis to Johnson City. A copy of page 3 of this legal newspaper, which boldly proclaims Defendant Butler as Publisher and Defendant Habegger as Chief Financial Officer, is attached hereto as Exhibit 1.

iii. Defendants systematically telephoned and sent e-mail messages to various law-related businesses in Tennessee in an effort to solicit these businesses to take out advertisements in this legal newspaper in Tennessee.

iv. Defendants directly contacted numerous attorneys and librarians at law firms in Tennessee, both by telephone and by e-mail, in order to solicit their subscriptions to this legal newspaper for Tennessee.

v. Defendants contacted several attorneys in Tennessee for purposes of getting their opinions of this legal newspaper or to solicit their collaboration on this business venture.

vi. Both defendants have on numerous occasions contacted Plaintiff in Tennessee by phone and by e-mail in order to conduct business with him.

vii. Defendants formed a contract with Plaintiff that provides that the contract shall be governed by Tennessee law. Therefore, the Defendants were properly given notice that they could be haled into a Tennessee court in the event of a contract dispute.

viii. Defendants contacted Plaintiff for purposes of having him purchases shares in a corporation Defendants were forming. Therefore, the Defendants� contact amounts to the private placement of securities to a Tennessee resident, which constitutes substantive contact in the forum state.