April.28.2020
An Orrick team secured an important decision today from the Minnesota Court of Appeals, which sided with our client Xponential Fitness on a key jurisdictional issue that paves the way for the dismissal of litigation brought against it by Snap Fitness, Inc.
Minnesota-based Snap last year sued California-based Xponential, which owns a variety of subsidiaries that operate 1,700 studios in the boutique fitness space, including Pure Barre, Row House, and Club Pilates, alleging Xponential tortiously interfered with a non-compete agreement it had with one of Snap’s former executives. Xponential moved to dismiss, asserting that the Minnesota courts lacked personal jurisdiction over it, but the trial court denied the motion.
The Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s decision, siding with our arguments on behalf of Xponential. The court held that Snap had failed to come forward with sufficient evidence to establish personal jurisdiction over Xponential in Minnesota. The court further determined that Snap failed to properly seek jurisdictional discovery in the trial court. The appellate decision now allows for the dismissal of all of Snap’s claims against Xponential in Minnesota.
The Orrick team was led by partners Glenn Dassoff, Mark Davies, and Rob Shwarts, and the case was argued by associate Randall Smith. The case team also included Barbara D’Aquila and Margaret Rudolph of Norton Rose Fulbright.