BONNIER CORPORATION d/b/a BONNIER CORPORATION V. JERSEY CAPE YACHT SALES, INC.
A-2404-09T2 10-13-10
Plaintiff, a Delaware corporation headquartered in Florida and the publisher of numerous special-interest national magazines, filed a collection action in the Law Division againstdefendant, a New Jersey yacht retailer, after defendant failed to pay for certain advertising published nationally in one of plaintiff's magazines. The trial court granted defendant's motion to dismiss plaintiff's complaint for lack of standing because plaintiff had not obtained a certificate of authority to do business in New Jersey pursuant to N.J.S.A. 14A:13-11.
Because the limited record as developed in the trial court does not establish that plaintiff is engaged in intrastate business within New Jersey, as defined by Eli Lilly & Co. v. Sav-On Drugs, Inc., 366 U.S. 276, 280, 81 S. Ct. 1316, 1319, 6 L. Ed. 2d 288, 291-92 (1961), plaintiff could not be constitutionally obligated under the Commerce Clause to obtain a certificate of authority because of its purely interstate business activities. Consequently, the dismissal of the complaint is reversed and the matter is remanded for further proceedings.
