National Equip. Rental, Ltd. v. Taylor

The opinion of the court was delivered by This is an appeal by plaintiff National Equipment Rental, Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as National) from an order of dismissal granted on the motion of the defendant, William E. Taylor d/b/a Liberal Import Center (hereinafter referred to as Taylor). The action is based on a foreign judgment entered by default against Taylor by the Supreme Court of New York, Nassau County. The trial court granted the motion on the grounds that there were insufficient contacts with the Defendant for the New York court to acquire jurisdiction and the contract purporting to grant such jurisdiction was commercial paper between the Defendant required by a Florida corporation with whom he did business. The trial court further adopted the defendant's brief as the court's findings of fact and conclusions of law. The factual situation in this case is complex and must be set forth in some detail in order to understand the issues presented before this court. It should be noted that the facts do not appear to be seriously in dispute. Early in 1974 Taylor entered into negotiations with a corporation by the name of E.Q. Muffler, Inc., of Dadeland, Florida, for the acquisition of a franchise to establish [225 Kan. 59]