Does a company have to comply with a subpoena if corporate headquarters is out of state? Some kind of Diplomatic immunity?

[J.D. Dude]

What is the name of your state? UT.

Does a company have to comply with a subpoena if they are sued in a state with a registered agent in, doing business in, over a client in that state if they are incorporated in another state?

There is a company doing business in Utah, being sued in Utah, had subpoena delivered to their registered agent in Utah over a client who is also in Utah.

However the company headquarters is in California, demanding only subpoena service only be done in California and that California court is the only one with authority over them. All the objections are being done under California laws not Utah laws. However lawsuit/courthouse, client and registered agent are all in Utah.

Could Burger king a Florida registered company say that only Florida law applies to them while doing business in California? Perhaps to get around a Coronavirus Mask mandate in California? Are the stores in that state considered like foreign embassy with diplomatic immunity? Each store being considered like Florida soil in a foreign state?

How does this interstate law work with subpoena compliance?

Thanks.

 

[Ohiogal]

Is there a written contract that binds the parties?

 

[Zigner]

What did your attorney say when you asked these questions?

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Could Burger king a Florida registered company say that only Florida law applies to them while doing business in California? Perhaps to get around a Coronavirus Mask mandate in California? Are the stores in that state considered like foreign embassy with diplomatic immunity? Each store being considered like Florida soil in a foreign state?

Burger King has 18,625 restaurants worldwide in 2020. The vast majority of these were franchised 18,573. So is this really a good example of the type of business you are talking about?

 

[quincy]

J.D. Dude, what is your interest in this? Simply academic or are you involved in litigation or an investigation that spawned a subpoena?

Ohiogal touched on one important factor. A contract can spell out which state’s law applies.

More details might be helpful.

 

[J.D. Dude]

Is there a written contract that binds the parties?

The subpoena is to an 3rd party company and to get information about one of their clients.

This client is a Utah resident who breached his contact under Utah law and is involved in litigation in a Utah court.

The 3rd party company has a registered agent in Utah. My understanding is that registered agents are there to accept legal document for the company.

Thanks.

 

[quincy]

The subpoena is to an 3rd party company and to get information about one of their clients.

This client is a Utah resident who breached his contact under Utah law and is involved in litigation in a Utah court.

The 3rd party company has a registered agent in Utah. My understanding is that registered agents are there to accept legal document for the company.

Thanks.

Yes. A registered agent for a company accepts legal documents for a company. This does not mean that an out-of-state company does not have jurisdiction over the legal matter.

 

[J.D. Dude]

What did your attorney say when you asked these questions?

He is saying he does not know since

Burger King has 18,625 restaurants worldwide in 2020. The vast majority of these were franchised 18,573. So is this really a good example of the type of business you are talking about?

Company I'm talking about has almost 6 billions( with a B) in profits and 11,000 thousand employees and its current under investigation of the FTC.

I'm not sure how big the company is would make a difference in the answer?

Company has headquarters in State A but is being sued in State B over a customer they have in State B. Company also has a registered agent in state B to accept legal documents.

In Florida its illegal to ask and deny service due to a lack of a coronavirus vaccine while in New York, its illegal not to ask if someone had cornavirus vaccine and provide service.

So if a Florida based company was doing business in New York which rule would they have to follow ?

Does company have to follow rules in state A for a lawsuit and customers located in State B?

Its sort of like international law but dealing with 2 states. I would imaging this is not the first incident of something like this happening.

Maybe there is no clear answer and its just up to whatever Judge you happen to get?

They are claiming that providing the information for the Utah lawsuit with a Utah resident would violate rules in California(not Utah)

Like somehow the Utah resident is protected by California law and would require a domesticated case in California to even serve it to them despite the fact they have a registered agent in Utah.

 

[quincy]

Who are you in all of this? What’s your legal issue?

This isn’t about Trump and Facebook, is it?

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

I'm not sure how big the company is would make a difference in the answer?

It isn't the size in question it is the structure. The vast majority of those Burger Kings aren't owned by Burger King. So if your question involves a non-company owned franchise it changes everything.

 

[adjusterjack]

The subpoena is to an 3rd party company and to get information about one of their clients.

You didn't answer Quincy's question.

Are you a party to this lawsuit? If so, in what capacity?

He (attorney) is saying he does not know

Whenever an attorney says he doesn't know, you fire him and get an attorney who does know.

 

[J.D. Dude]

J.D. Dude, what is your interest in this? Simply academic or are you involved in litigation or an investigation that spawned a subpoena?

Ohiogal touched on one important factor. A contract can spell out which state’s law applies.

More details might be helpful.

This is not academic. My name initials are J.D. but I can see how you might confused that for something else legal related.

This is a real thing going on right now.

My contact is with an person/sole proprietorship company located in Utah.

The subpoena is to a large 3rd party company which has a lot of information about this individual.

They are claiming that

1. We can't serve them a subpoena in Utah and it must be domesticated and served in California since they are headquarters in California but they do have a Utah registered agent.

2. The Utah resident client's information is somehow protected by California law even know the client is located and does business with them in Utah.

In Florida, the state law protects customers from being denied service due to a lack of a coronavirus injection however in other states, this is required for service such as New York.

So if a Florida based corporation doing business in New York. Does Florida Law override and protect NY citizens from NY local laws? Such as in the Such as the case of Florida based burger king corporation with restaurants in NY?

If so, I think the same principal would apply in my case as well.

 

[quincy]

Thank you for expanding on your situation. It sounds familiar. Have you posted here before under a different username?

To answer one of your questions, if a Florida-based company is doing business in Utah, Utah laws (generally) apply, absent a contractual agreement that says another state has jurisdiction in all legal matters. It is conceivable, then, that California law applies to a company doing business in Utah.

 

[J.D. Dude]

It isn't the size in question it is the structure. The vast majority of those Burger Kings aren't owned by Burger King. So if your question involves a non-company owned franchise it changes everything.

Oh ok, I think I understand what you are saying.

Assume that its a company owned restaurant in this situation not a franchise.

The company in my situation is doing business in Utah over the internet using a " cloud" service and has a registered agent in Utah.

They are claiming the Utah resident is protected by California laws even though there are no Utah laws which would prevent the release of the information.

They are also saying that service of a subpoena must be made in California by first domesticating it in California.

 

[J.D. Dude]

You didn't answer Quincy's question.

Are you a party to this lawsuit? If so, in what capacity?



Whenever an attorney says he doesn't know, you fire him and get an attorney who does know.

Maybe you are right but consider the fact that a Utah attorney is use to dealing with Utah law not California law or these across state line issues.

Its like asking a US lawyer about law in Mexico or Canada in some kind of international corporate incident.

This is not the norm for a typical Utah lawyer when you are dealing with " foreign" corporations.

The whole " across state lines" becomes complicated.

Its like in the movies where there is a crime and the Federal agents are fighting with the local cops over who has jurisdiction over the case or access to the information. Both sides perhaps making valid arguments.

Kansas city had so much crime because it was divided by 2 states and you could commit a crime in state A and hop over to state B and the cops could not do anything back in the old days.

It seem like there is not really a clear cut answer to this?