AFTER JURISDICTIONAL DISCOVERY, PLAINTIFF DID NOT DEMONSTRATE NEW YORK HAD JURISDICTION OVER THREE OF FOUR NEW JERSEY DEFENDANTS IN THIS MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CASE; WITH RESPECT TO ONE NEW JERSEY DEFENDANT, THE JURISDICTION ISSUE MUST BE DECIDED BY THE JURY (FIRST DEPT).
The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined that New Jersey defendant Princeton Radiology Associates (PRO) and the associated defendant doctors (Tsai and Chon) had demonstrated New York did not have jurisdiction over them in this medical malpractice action. With regard to another related New Jersey defendant, Princeton Procure Management, LLC (PPM), the First Department held its lack-of-jurisdiction affirmative defense should not have been dismissed and a jury must decide the issue:
After defendants PPM, PRO, Tsai and Chon moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, the motion court found that plaintiff had made a “substantial start” in demonstrating a basis for personal jurisdiction over those defendants. PPM appealed and this Court affirmed, noting the evidence that PPM had identified a principal place of business in New York, and that it “marketed its Somerset, New Jersey, location to target New York residents, touting its proximity to New York in advertising,” and “entered into an agreement with a consortium of New York City hospitals for the referral of cancer patients for treatment at its facility” … . …
Plaintiff did not meet her ultimate burden of establishing that Drs. Tsai and Chon, New Jersey doctors who treated her in New Jersey, projected themselves, on their own initiative, into New York to engage in a sustained and substantial transaction of business related to her claims, such that specific long-arm jurisdiction existed over them under CPLR 302(a)(1) … . …
… [Re: PPM] we conclude that the evidence submitted by plaintiff … does not warrant dismissal of PPM’s affirmative defense of lack of jurisdiction. As to general jurisdiction under CPLR 301, plaintiff presented documents in which PPM listed a New York place of business, but PPM submitted an affidavit of its president, who identified PPM’s principal place of business as in New Jersey and denied having a New York principal office. …
Plaintiff also failed to establish that specific long-arm jurisdiction exists over PPM under CPLR 302(a)(1). The evidence presented by plaintiff, including various contracts and the radio interviews and billing documents discussed above, provides a “sufficient start” in demonstrating a basis for asserting personal jurisdiction … , but does not warrant dismissal of PPM’s affirmative defense … . Robins v Procure Treatment Ctrs., Inc., 2020 NY Slip Op 00047, First Dept 1-2-20