Robertson v. CRI, Inc

In Robertson v. CRI, Inc., 267 Ga. App. 757 (601 SE2d 163) (2004), Robertson, a resident of California and Arizona, was sued on a personal guaranty he gave to secure a loan to his employer made by a Georgia branch of a national bank. The employer was a Delaware corporation with its principal office in Atlanta and another office in California. Robertson worked out of the California office, but he did travel to Atlanta in connection with the employer's business. Robertson never traveled to Georgia for the purpose of negotiating or discussing the loan, however, and he executed the guaranty in California. Although Robertson asserted that the court lacked jurisdiction over him, we disagreed, and concluded that "as in Barton, Robertson could be characterized as having availed himself of the resources of a Georgia financial institution, and the $400,000 loan could be characterized as substantial, thus showing the purposeful activity in Georgia required to satisfy the first prong of the test." Id. at 760.