Muckle v. Superior Court

In 1989, Andrew (defendant) and Cassandra Muckle (plaintiff) were married in Georgia. In July 1998, while the couple lived in California, Andrew bought a home in Georgia. In December 1998, Andrew moved into the Georgia home. Cassandra followed. Subsequently, Cassandra moved back to California. Cassandra later filed a petition for marital dissolution in the California trial court. Cassandra served Andrew with the dissolution papers by substituted service. Cassandra claimed that the home in Georgia was community property. Andrew filed a motion to quash the service for lack of personal jurisdiction. Andrew filed a declaration stating that he was 65 years old, had lived in Georgia since 1998, worked and paid taxes in Georgia, had a Georgia driver’s license, and was registered to vote in Georgia. The parties disagreed as to whether Andrew had sufficient minimum contacts with California for the court to have jurisdiction over Andrew. Cassandra filed a supplemental response asserting that Andrew had maintained sufficient minimum contacts with California by working in California for 10 years before moving to Georgia, filing for and receiving worker’s compensation from a California employer, and using some of the worker’s compensation funds to purchase the Georgia home. There was no evidence produced to support the allegations in Cassandra’s supplemental response. The trial court denied Andrew’s motion to quash, relying on many of the facts raised by Cassandra’s supplemental response, and found that Andrew had sufficient minimum contacts with California. Andrew filed a petition for writ of mandate challenging the trial court’s ruling denying Andrew’s motion to quash.