You are viewing a free summary from Descrybe.ai. For citation and good law / bad law checking, legal issue analysis, and other advanced tools, explore our Legal Research Toolkit — not free, but close.

Henneberger v. Ticom Geomatics, Inc.

Citation: 602 F. App'x 352Docket: No. 14-3685

Court: Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; May 11, 2015; Federal Appellate Court

EnglishEspañolSimplified EnglishEspañol Fácil
Bernard Henneberger's appeal against the dismissal of his breach-of-contract lawsuit for lack of personal jurisdiction has been affirmed. Henneberger sued Ticom Geomatics, Inc., its president Mark Leach, manager David Feuerstein, and two companies, Six3 Systems, Inc. and CACI International, Inc., alleging that they failed to honor a promise of equity or proceeds from a company sale, which he claimed could amount to $1,000,000. 

The defendants removed the case to federal court and moved to dismiss, asserting they had no significant contacts with Illinois. They provided affidavits and employment documents allegedly signed by Henneberger to support their position. Henneberger contended that the defendants had substantial contacts with Illinois, citing Ticom's former ownership by a Chicago-based firm, GTCR, which was not a party to the case. He also sought sanctions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11, accusing the defendants of forging his signature.

The district court dismissed Henneberger's case, finding he failed to establish a prima facie case for personal jurisdiction, as his claims lacked supporting evidence against the defendants' affidavits. The court also denied his sanctions motion as moot. Henneberger's subsequent request to introduce new evidence on appeal was denied, as the court does not consider evidence not presented at the district court level. The ruling clarified that under Illinois law, personal jurisdiction requires sufficient minimum contacts, which Henneberger did not demonstrate. Additionally, his request to forward the record for a government investigation into alleged forgery was also denied.