Morningside Church, Inc. v. Rutledge, No. 20-2954 (8th Cir. 2021)
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Jim Bakker and Morningside filed suit against several out-of-state defendants in Missouri federal court, alleging that defendants, while acting in their official capacities, violated their First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights. In February 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic was beginning in the United States, Jim Bakker and Morningside began advertising a product called Silver Solution on the Jim Bakker Show. Bakker and Morningside claimed that Silver Solution "has been proven by the government that it has the ability to kill every pathogen it has ever been tested on;" that it "has been tested on other strains of the coronavirus and has been able to eliminate it within 12 hours;" and that it is "patented, it works, we have tested it, it works on just about everything." Bakker and Morningside allege that defendants' investigations into Silver Solution violate their constitutional rights and that the state statutes defendants have acted under are unconstitutional.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of defendants' motion to dismiss based on lack of personal jurisdiction. Assuming defendants fell under Missouri's long-arm statute, the court concluded that asserting personal jurisdiction in this case violates due process where the only contact with Missouri were letters and emails directed at Morningside Church and Bakker, rather than the forum state. Therefore, after considering the five factor test for assessing the sufficiency of a defendant's contacts, the court concluded that Bakker and Morningside have not demonstrated that defendants' conduct connects them to the forum in a meaningful way.
Court Description: [Kelly, Author, with Loken and Erickson, Circuit Judges] Civil Case - Personal Jurisdiction. After Morningside Church advertised a product Silver Solution, California attorneys and the Arkansas Attorney General launched investigations, contacted Morningside Church and Jim Bakker and served subpoenas and requests for information. Morningside and Bakker filed suit, claiming constitutional violations. District court's grant of motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction is affirmed. Assuming defendants fell under Missouri's long-arm statute, asserting of personal jurisdiction in this case violates due process, as only contact with Missouri were letters and emails directed at Morningside Church and Bakker, not the forum state.
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