Schoot v. United States
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
664 F. Supp. 293 (1987)
Schoot (plaintiff) performed only ministerial tasks at the direction of Vorbau, president of Illinois-based Steelograph Business Interiors, and had no authority over the company's business or tax decisions. The government (defendant) assessed a penalty jointly against Vorbau and Schoot for Steelograph's willful nonpayment of payroll withholding and FICA taxes; Schoot paid a small portion, Vorbau paid nothing and later moved out of Illinois. Schoot sued the government in the Northern District of Illinois, where he resided, to recover taxes he argued were improperly assessed; the government filed a compulsory counterclaim against Schoot and, with leave of court, added Vorbau as a third-party defendant. Vorbau moved to dismiss the claim against him for lack of personal jurisdiction, improper venue, and improper joinder.
Whether a federal court may consider a claim against a nonresident third-party defendant if the forum state's long-arm jurisdiction reaches the defendant, the matter was brought in an appropriate venue, and joinder satisfies the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.