May Department Stores Co. v. Wilansky
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
900 F. Supp. 1154 (1995)
Wilansky (defendant), a Texas-based May Department Stores Co. (plaintiff) executive, called a fellow executive in St. Louis to say he intended to resign; that executive asked him to come to St. Louis to discuss it. May quickly had a breach-of-contract complaint drafted and flew Wilansky to St. Louis by company jet the next day, filing the complaint with the court that same Saturday. After the meeting made clear Wilansky's resignation was final, May's attorneys served him with the summons and complaint on the spot. Wilansky moved to dismiss for insufficient service under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(5).
Whether service of process should be quashed when it is effected by inducing the defendant to enter the jurisdiction for talks, without first warning the defendant the meeting could subject him to jurisdiction or giving him a chance to leave the jurisdiction before service.