Court Jurisdiction, Procedure and Review: Long Arm Statute

摘要

Retamco Operating Inc. (ROI), a Texas Corporation, sues Paradigm Oil, Inc. (Paradigm), another Texas corporation in a Texas District Court over unpaid royalties related to oil and gas interests in several Texas counties. The trial court enters a $16 million default judgment against Paradigm and following this interlocutory judgment ROI amends its petition to include a claim against Republic Drilling Company (Republic), a California corporation, for violation of the Uniform Fraudulent Transaction Act (UFTA) (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 24.001-.013.) ROI alleges that during the pendency of the litigation, Paradigm assigns to Republic interests in certain wells involved in the litigation. ROI also alleges that these transfers were fraudulent and led to Paradigm's insolvency, rendering it unable to satisfy ROI's claims. Republic files a special appearance, arguing it does not have minimum contacts with Texas, arguing that because the allegedly fraudulent assignment of the Texas leases occurred entirely outside Texas, the Texas court does not have personal jurisdiction over Republic.