Honeywell Int'l, Inc. v. Kilgore

Honeywell International, Inc. (Honeywell) (plaintiff) extended credit to American Alarm Company, Inc. (defendant), and American Alarm Company failed to pay. Honeywell sued, among others, American Alarm Company and Jared Kilgore (defendant), an Arizona resident, who Honeywell claimed had signed a personal guarantee of American Alarm Company’s debt. The personal guarantee had a forum-selection clause selecting New York State courts. The guarantee also had a place for an account to be listed, but this line remained blank. Honeywell attempted to serve Kilgore in Arizona several times, ultimately obtaining service using New York’s nail-and-mail method, which permitted a party to obtain service by sending the process via United States mail to the party’s last known address if several unsuccessful attempts at service had already been made. Honeywell obtained a default judgment in New York, and then Honeywell attempted to enforce the judgment in Arizona. Kilgore moved to vacate the judgment, arguing that the New York judgment was not valid because New York did not have personal jurisdiction over him. Kilgore argued that the forum-selection clause in the guarantee was not valid because someone had forged his signature on the guarantee. Further, Kilgore argued that there were two American Alarm companies, American Alarm Company as well as American Alarm Partners of Arizona, Inc., which was not a party to the New York case. Kilgore claimed he had never worked for American Alarm Company, and Honeywell had no evidence to establish that the personal guarantee had been made on behalf of American Alarm Company. The trial court granted Kilgore’s motion, and Honeywell appealed.