JEFFERSON CITY — In a ruling involving cross-border business dealings and jurisdictional limits, a state appeals court in Missouri has vacated a $224,057 default judgment entered against Kansas resident David Robinson and his family’s corporation, 7 R Farm Company.
The court determined that Missouri courts lacked personal jurisdiction over Robinson and the Farm in a contract dispute brought by Missouri-based Hoeman Capital Management (HCM).
At the heart of the dispute was an April 2019 agreement between HCM and 7 R Farm Company, a Kansas corporation formed in 1976 and operated by Robinson and his two sisters in southwest Kansas, according to the June 10 Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District opinion.
HCM, led by its president Mark Hoeman, argued that Robinson and the Farm breached their contract by failing to pay consulting fees related to a loan HCM helped facilitate.
However, Robinson and the farm challenged the judgment because they had not transacted business in Missouri, and therefore, the Missouri court had no authority to adjudicate the matter.
The Missouri appeals court agreed, holding that the minimal contact Robinson and the farm had with Missouri—limited to a few phone calls and emails—did not meet the threshold required under Missouri’s long-arm statute.
In early 2019, 7 R Farm was facing foreclosure threats from MetLife after being unable to meet mortgage obligations.
Robinson, acting on behalf of the farm, met Bill Mapes, an equipment leasing businessman in Wichita, Kan., who introduced him to Mark Hoeman.
Robinson and Hoeman spoke twice by phone regarding possible refinancing.
On April 25, 2019, Hoeman emailed Robinson an “Engagement Agreement for Debt Consulting Services,” which Robinson signed while he was in Kansas. The contract listed HCM and the farm as the only parties and specified consulting work related to a potential $2 million loan.
The loan proposal ultimately proved unsatisfactory to Robinson’s sisters due to the high interest rates and was rejected. In August 2019, Robinson personally filed for bankruptcy and separately sought a personal loan, again turning to Hoeman and Chicago Capital. The resulting $1.2 million loan, closed in Dodge City, Kan., was made to Robinson individually and not to the farm.
Robinson used the proceeds to pay off the farm’s mortgage.
Despite this being a personal transaction, HCM later invoiced the farm $60,200—a 5% consulting fee on the $1.2 million loan.
Robinson made partial payments totaling $20,000 but did not pay the full balance.
In November 2020, HCM filed suit in Missouri, alleging breach of the April 2019 contract.
After Robinson and the farm failed to respond to the lawsuit, a Missouri trial court entered a default judgment of $224,057 against them.
Robinson later claimed he had never been properly served and moved to vacate the judgment.
While the trial court initially set aside only the damages portion, it ultimately reinstated the judgment in December 2023, prompting the appeal that led to the appellate court’s ruling.
Presiding Judge James M. Dowd concluded that Robinson and the farm’s limited interactions with Missouri — consisting primarily of remote communications — were insufficient to constitute “transaction of business” under Missouri’s long-arm statute.
The court also rejected HCM’s argument that Robinson’s actions during post-judgment hearings waived the jurisdictional challenge. The court found that Robinson properly preserved his objection to jurisdiction by raising it at the first opportunity in his motion to set aside the default judgment.
The court dismissed HCM’s reliance on the Missouri choice-of-law clause in the April 2019 contract, reiterating that such provisions do not, on their own, establish personal jurisdiction.
Judges Angela T. Quigless and Cristian M. Stevens concurred in the unanimous opinion.
Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District case number: ED112375
