No personal jurisdiction in contract case

The loser of a Florida arbitration sought to challenge it in Texas; the Fifth Circuit affirmed dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction in Sayers Construction v. Timberline Construction, No. 19-51099 (Oct. 2, 2020), observing as to the categories  of facts alleged:

• Solicitation. “Reid and Duffy are irrelevant because the ‘unilateral activity of a third party’ cannot establish minimum contacts on behalf of a corporate defendant.”
• Communications. “[M]ailing payments to the forum state, engaging in communications related to the execution and performance of the contract, and the existence of a contract between the nonresident defendant and a resident of the forum are insufficient to establish . . . minimum contacts . . . .” (citation omitted); and
• Texas choice-of-law clause. “[T]he choice-of-law clause in the Master Services Agreement does not suggest the parties expected to resolve their disputes in Texas. That’s because the same Agreement also required that arbitration take place in accordance with the AAA’s venue-selection rules—i.e., as close as possible to the project in Florida.”