Case Study: Patrick O Sanders V.

Facts Sean O’Grady, a professional boxer, was managed by his father, Pat. Sean was a contender for the world featherweight title. Pat entered into a contract with Magna Verde Corporation, an LA based business, to co-promote a fight between Sean and the current world featherweight champion. The fight was scheduled to take place in Oklahoma City. To promote the fight, Pat set up a press conference. At the conference, Pat was involved in a confrontation with a sportswriter named Brooks.
Issue
Pat allegedly struck Brooks in the face. Brooks brought up a suit against Pat O’Grady and Magna Verde Corporation in an Oklahoma state court. Court records showed that the only contract Magna Verde had with Oklahoma were that a few of its employees had taken several trips to
Oklahoma to plan the title fight.
The fight was never held. Oklahoma has a long-arm statute. Magna Verde was served by mail and made a special appearance in Oklahoma state court to argue that Oklahoma does not have personal jurisdiction over it. The main argument is that does Oklahoma have jurisdiction over Magna Verde Corporation? Analysis
A court is required to use long-arm jurisdiction over persons and businesses in another State when a civil wrong is committed within a State; when there is a contract in the State or a contract affects the State and when a business is transacted that allegedly cause injury to another person. “long arm jurisdiction is a statutory grant of jurisdiction to local courts over foreign ("foreign" meaning out-of-state) defendants. A state's ability to confer jurisdiction is limited by the Constitution. This jurisdiction permits a court to hear a case against a defendant and enter a binding judgment against a defendant
residing outside the state's jurisdiction. That is, without a long arm statute, a state's court may not have personal jurisdiction over a particular defendant. Generally, the authority of a court to exercise long arm jurisdiction must be based upon some action of the defendant which subjects him or her to the jurisdiction of the court. In the United States, some states long arm statutes refer to specific acts, for example torts or contract cases, which a court may entertain. Other states, like California, broadly grant jurisdiction "on any basis not inconsistent with the Constitution of this state or the United States. "The use of a long arm statute is usually constitutional where the defendant has certain minimum contacts with the forum state and there has been reasonable notice of the action against him or her. Since the 1960s, several states have enacted one of the two types of long arm statutes (a) the first type enumerates fact situations that submit an individual/corporation to the forum's jurisdiction (b) the second type extends the forum's jurisdiction to the extent of the constitutional limitations.
Conclusion of the courts The conclusion was that the court found that Oklahoma does have jurisdiction in the case because the two parties did schedule a fight in Oklahoma even though the fight did not occur, both sides agreed to a contract as well as the incident happened during a promotion.

Opinion
My opinion is that Oklahoma should have jurisdiction over this case due to the fact that the event occurred in Oklahoma and that Magna Verde agreed to a contract and that they did business together. The incident between the two sides under contract should mean that long arm jurisdiction should be ruled in effect.