ViaView, Inc. v. Retzlaff, 2016 WL 3626708 (Cal. Ct. App. 2016)
ViaView filed a petition for a workplace violence restraining order against Thomas Retzlaff, a resident of Texas, who had filed a motion to quash the petition for lack of personal jurisdiction. The trial court denied the motion to quash and granted a permanent injunction against Retzlaff. The Court of Appeal issued a peremptory writ of mandate directing the trial court to vacate its order denying Retzlaff’s motion to quash and to enter a new order granting the motion, holding that Retzlaff did not make a general appearance in the action (and thereby waive his jurisdictional challenge) because he properly filed a motion to quash. As for Retzlaff’s jurisdictional challenge, the Court determined that ViaView failed to prove the factual bases justifying the exercise of jurisdiction over Retzlaff since its principal (James McGibney) filed a declaration in opposition to the motion to quash that was not signed under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California as required by Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 2015.5. In so ruling the Court held that ViaView failed to prove that the allegedly defamatory threats that Retzlaff made on the Internet were aimed at a California audience, that a significant number of California residents saw them or that the social media platforms were targeted to California.
Workplace Violence Injunction Was Improperly Entered Against Out-Of-State Resident
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