Basic Civil Procedure

A long held principle of American civil procedure is that when a person or corporation (what lawyer calls a "non-natural person") is that when they act in any significant fashion within the geographical borders of a state then they are subject to the jurisdictions of the courts of that state.

Along comes CMI, Inc. the company that manufactures the Intoxilyzer 8000. An attorney in Sarasota, Florida by the name of Robert Harrison has filed a motion asking the court to issue a subpoena tuces tecum--which is Latin for "bring with you under penalty of punishment"--commanding CMI to produce the source code. So far every judge in Sarasota County has issued such a subpoena. So far each time CMI has failed to respond in any fashion whatsoever to the court orders. CMI has not appeared for any court hearings pertaining to the orders. CMI has not even hired an attorney to appear for the hearings or file responsive pleadings to the court orders (although CMI has since hired an attorney although as of today neither he nor CMI appeared in a court hearing for such an order).

Why has CMI failed to even respond? CMI argues the court has no jurisdiction to order the production of the source code. CMI has sold over 300 Intoxilyzer 8000 Breath Test devices that in total cost the tax payers of the State of Florida millions of dollars. CMI wants the benefit of selling their products here, but don't want the responsibility of responding to orders issued by Florida judges.