The Milky Whey, Inc. v. Dairy Partners, LLC

Summary

The Montana Supreme Court affirmed dismissal of Milky Whey’s claims against Dairy Partners and Scott Stefan for lack of personal jurisdiction. The court held that Dairy Partners did not waive its jurisdictional defense by filing a notice of appearance before moving to dismiss, and that its contacts with Montana did not satisfy Montana’s long-arm statute. The court concluded that the transaction at issue occurred outside Montana and that no further due process analysis was necessary.

Holdings

1. A notice of appearance is not a pleading and does not waive a personal-jurisdiction defense when the defendant raises that defense by motion before filing a responsive pleading.
2. Montana did not have general personal jurisdiction over Dairy Partners because the company was not a Montana corporation and did not conduct substantial, systematic, or continuous activities in Montana.
3. Montana's long-arm statute did not confer specific personal jurisdiction over Dairy Partners because the claims did not arise from Dairy Partners' transaction of business or tortious conduct in Montana.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Dairy Partners waived its personal-jurisdiction defense by filing a notice of appearance before moving to dismiss.
2. Whether Montana's long-arm statute conferred general or specific personal jurisdiction over Dairy Partners based on the parties' commercial dealings and the disputed transaction.

Disposition

affirmed