Whether in employment agreements or business transactions, drafters often include certain clauses within these documents to protect their client if litigation arises (e.g., arbitration clauses, forum- selection clauses). However, when not clearly drafted, these clauses can lead to a battle over where the case may proceed. Recently, Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Joel M. Cohen handed
personal jurisdiction
Commercial Division Says, “Nope, Not Enough” When Using Local Counsel to Establish Personal Jurisdiction
Commercial transactions often involve parties from different states. When a dispute arises between diverse parties, the question of whether a party can obtain personal jurisdiction over a defendant becomes critical. This issue becomes even more apparent when the defendant is a foreign corporation that conducts business across the world. In a recent decision from the…
New York’s Long-Arm Statute Thwarts Dismissal In International Shareholder Derivative Action
Undoubtedly, unsuspecting foreign corporations may find themselves having business connections in New York and subject to the jurisdiction of New York courts.
This blog post focuses on a recent decision by Hon. Andrew Borrock of the Commercial Division of the New York State Supreme Court for New York County in Matter of Renren, Inc. Derivative
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Back to Basics: Long-Arm Statute 101
Reflecting on your first year of law school, you begrudgingly remember learning about personal jurisdiction and the long-arm statute. As a commercial litigator, one of your first questions in representing a defendant should be: Does this court have jurisdiction over my client? If the answer to that question is no, then of course, you…
Personal Jurisdiction Over Japanese Airplane Entities Does Not Fly in New York County
In a recent decision, Justice Scarpulla of the New York County Commercial Division declined to exercise personal jurisdiction over several Japanese entities, and even imposed sanctions on the plaintiff for attempting to relitigate its already-decided claims in New York.
Defendant ANA Aircraft Technics, Co., Ltd. (“ANA Technics”) maintained a fleet of airplanes owned and…
Action to Recover Amadeo Modigliani Painting Stolen by Nazis Survives Dismissal Due in Part to Alter Ego Finding
Over eighty years after the end of World War II, crimes committed by the Nazis continue to be redressed, including in our very own Commercial Division. The Nazis are well known to have plundered with reckless abandon along the trail of their occupation. Beyond their theft of precious metals…
Jurisdictional Discovery: When and Why It’s Available
Personal jurisdiction analysis is often the enemy of 1L’s tackling that doozy of a CivPro exam. Outside of that 10-page fact pattern requiring consideration of Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia, SA v. Hall, International Shoe Co. v. Washington, and World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson, this is normally a seamless endeavor for commercial litigators.…
Answer the Phone, Win a Trip to New York?
If you live in the Western Hemisphere, then you already know that New York courts may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nondomiciliary who transacts business in New York if the plaintiff’s claim arises from the transaction of such business. But what does it mean to transact business in New York? Much ink has been spilled …