That One Damn Case

You know how awful it is when your entire argument goes to shit because you discovered one obsolete case tucked away in the far corner of Westlaw?

I've been working with an associate on a motion to dismiss. In our motion we basically argue everything- lack of subject matter jurisdiction, lack of general personal jurisdiction, lack of "specific" personal jurisdiction under the Long Arm statute, improper service and forum non conveniens. Yes, we are basically throwing the entire Civil Procedure book at our opponents.

I had a lot of the arguments all set up. I had research the relevant and supporting analogous cases. I carefully compared the facts of our case with the facts of these supporting cases. I was ready to go and very proud. Then I found THE CASE. I found it completely by accident. I was searching for a case to an unrelated issue when I stumbled upon this awful case that fit our fact pattern EXACTLY. The crazy thing is, the court used a completely different standard than the mainstream cases. Problem 1: it is unflagged and therefore not challenged or overturned. Probem 2: it's binding on our court.

DAMN. SO CLOSE!

So it looks like we will continue with our arguments anyway and hope to god that this case is so hidden that, like us, our opponents will have a hard time finding it.

Litigation is so exciting sometimes.