Whoopsies. We were talking in my Pretrial Practice class a week or so ago about various ways that lawyers can make a fatal mistake and thereby waive an objection to personal jurisdiction. And, contemporaneously, along comes this case.
Two lessons. First, don't request discovery in order to oppose a request for a preliminary injunction. At least if you want to preserve your objection to personal jurisdiction in California state court. Justice Spencer holds that the discovery request constitutes a general appearance, and thereby precludes a motion to quash. This is a hard lesson learned by counsel for the defendant here, who are represented by Scott Sirlin (of Gordon & Rees) and Anthony Paduano. Ouch.
Second, don't trust everything you read in Weil & Brown. Because, as Justice Spencer notes (in footnote 2), that fine Rutter Group publication flatly states that requests for jurisdictional discovery don't waive personal jurisdiction. But it's wrong; moreover, the case that it cites (Roy) doesn't say that. Double ouch.
