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Plaintiff Did Not Sufficiently Allege Colorado Defendant Had Purposefully Transacted Business In New York—Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction Should Have Been Granted

The Second Department determined Supreme Court should have granted the Colorado defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction.  Plaintiff requested a loan from her uncle (the defendant), a Colorado resident. After her uncle refused, plaintiff brought this action for prima facie tort and slander based upon her communications with the defendant.  The Second Department found that plaintiff had not sufficiently alleged that defendant “purposefully transacted business” within New York:

A court may exercise personal jurisdiction over any nondomiciliary who “transacts any business within the state” (CPLR 302[a][1]). Generally, a nondomiciliary will be deemed to be subject to the jurisdiction of a New York court pursuant to CPLR 302(a)(1) if he or she has “engaged in some purposeful activity within the State and there is a substantial relationship’ between this activity and the plaintiff’s cause of action” … . “Purposeful activities are those with which a defendant, through volitional acts, avails itself of the privilege of conducting activities within the forum State, thus invoking the benefits and protections of its laws'” … .

Although the ultimate burden of proof regarding personal jurisdiction rests with the plaintiff, to defeat a CPLR 3211(a)(8) motion to dismiss a complaint, the plaintiff need only make a prima facie showing that the defendant is subject to the personal jurisdiction of the court … . Here, accepting as true the allegations set forth in the complaint and in the plaintiff’s opposition papers, and according the plaintiff the benefit of every favorable inference … , the plaintiff failed to meet her prima facie burden. The nature and quality of the defendant’s alleged contacts with New York do not demonstrate that he purposefully transacted business within this state … . Whitcraft v Runyon, 2014 NY Slip Op 08634, 2nd Dept 12-10-14

 

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