O. M. Greene Livestock Company v. Azalea Meats, Inc.

The plaintiff, O. M. Greene Livestock Company, sued several Georgia and non-Georgia parties seeking redress for nonpayment, when the plaintiff delivered $93,000 worth of hogs to an insolvent buyer, Azalea Meats, Inc., in South Carolina. Buyers are in some circumstances required to be bonded, both under federal and state law. The plaintiff alleges, among other things, that it relied on a bulletin entitled “Livestock Dealers and Brokers With Effective Bonds” published by the Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture, when it sold to Azalea on credit.

The jurisdictional defect was obvious— complete…