He's pretending on a couple of points. But, yes, he is acting like a "choice of venue" clause somehow equates to "all of our employees are Florida employees", which is just nuts.
First, he has no idea which of John Ruiz's entities are registered in CA, or whether those entities even need to register in CA. Second, he has no idea the difference between deriving revenue vs. incurring expenses in a particular state.
The historical test for "doing business" in a state was whether you had nexus, such as a physical presence (owned property or leased property) and/or an actual employee in the state. With LifeWallet being an app, there may not have previously been a need to "register in all 50 states". The corporation I work for IS registered in all 50 states because, you know, we actually sell/deliver tangible goods in all 50 states (including AK and HI). And, yes, if you register to "do business" in a state, you would also have an income tax filing obligation, and you'd need a resident service agent for process purposes.
On the other hand, going out and "filming a commercial somewhere" doesn't require you to register and/or pay taxes in any given state. Companies make ads all over the place, and that doesn't mean they are "doing business" everywhere they record an ad. A lot would depend on whether Jaden would have been paid money for performing services in California on a W-2 or a 1099. A W-2 employee would have required at least one legal entity to register with CA for payroll taxes. But Northern has no idea what the name of that entity might be. And of course...it's also very possible that LifeWallet paid a third party company to film ads in California, and LW paid THAT third-party company the money that would then be paid to Jaden for his services.
Northern Gaytor litigates, and he is not as knowledgeable on the transactional side of things. Which is fine. But he is acting like his 5 minutes of LEXIS-NEXIS research is determinative.