Phone calls? No personal jurisdiction.

In a win for our law firm, the Fifth Court rejected a personal jurisdiction theory based on alleged misrepresentations to a Texas business by a resident of Greece.”‘Even assuming that the phone calls, [e-mails, and video conference] were sufficiently connected to the claim, a proper minimum contacts analysis looks to the defendant’s contacts with the forum state itself, not the defendant’s contacts with persons who reside there.’ In addition, we have held, alleged ‘fraudulent or negligent misrepresentations made through electronic media do not establish specific jurisdiction.’   And as the supreme court concluded with respect to a Canadian entity in Searcy and based on the special appearance record, Theofanopoulos ‘had no control over’ where the executives of MoneyGram ‘happened to be located[,]’ ‘did not desire to create an ongoing relationship with Texas, enjoy the benefits of our laws, or profit from our thriving economy.'” MoneyGram v. Theofanopoulos, No. 05-17-00798-CV (July 6, 2018) (mem. op.) (citations omitted).