Part 1:

1. If Wilmington wishes to sue Santiago, what court or courts would have jurisdiction over this matter?

2. What would be the best venue and why?

3. If a Delaware court decides that it does not have jurisdiction, how may that affect Wilmington’s decision on whether or not to file a lawsuit?

Santiago Information Systems (Santiago) is a business based in Baltimore, Maryland, that purchases old computers, refurbishes them with new software and hardware parts, and sells them in bulk for about half the price of a new PC. For the past three years, Santiago has shipped approximately 40 percent of its inventory to the same client. The client is the Wilmington School District (Wilmington) in Wilmington, Delaware, and the school pays approximately $80,000 to Santiago for the computers per year. Santiago also visits each school to be sure that the computers are installed correctly and that the school district is satisfied with the order. Santiago has a website that gives contact information for the company, but the site is only partially interactive because users can transact business only by sending Santiago an e-mail via the website. Recently, Wilmington discovered that large shipments of Santiago’s products were defective, and it has been unable to come to a resolution with Santiago over the matter.

Part II:

1. If Wilmington decides to file suit against Parts in Delaware, will a Delaware court have personal jurisdiction over Parts? Why or why not?

2. Suppose Parts has a website where customers can order products, pay for them via credit card, and have them delivered via a delivery service to any U.S. city. How does this affect your jurisdiction
analysis?

3. If Parts’s only contact with Delaware is via its web-site, what standard should the trial court apply to determine whether there are minimum contacts?

Assume that one of Santiago’s suppliers, Parts R Us (Parts), is headquartered in Union City, New Jersey, and has been shipping Santiago parts for approximately
four years in a row. Last year, Parts sold approximately $7,000 in hardware to Santiago. In the past 10 years, Parts R Us has shipped to businesses in Maryland, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Parts has also e-mailed advertisements to potential leads in each of the 50 states. Wilmington has determined that Parts provided the defective components used in the computer order described in Part I.