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Jurisdiction Was Gained Over Out-of State Manufacturer Under Two Provisions of CPLR 302

Plaintiff was injured when he fell from a tree stand made by an out-of-state manufacturer and distributed in New York through Dick’s Sporting Goods.  In denying defendant’s motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, the Fourth Department outlined the statutory and due process requirements for good service upon a foreign corporation under CPLR 302.  The court wrote:

Here, defendant had an exclusive distributorship agreement with Dick’s, and maintained a website that provided information relating to its products, directed consumers to retail locations where they could purchase the products, and allowed for the direct purchase of the products through a credit card. Therefore, defendant was transacting business in New York through the use of its website, and the court properly concluded that there is long-arm jurisdiction under CPLR 302 (a) (1).

… [D]efendant is subject to long- arm jurisdiction pursuant to CPLR 302 (a) (3) (ii). Under that provision, courts “may exercise personal jurisdiction over any non-domiciliary . . . who . . . commits a tortious act without the state causing injury to person . . . within the state . . . if he .expects or should reasonably expect the act to have consequences in the state and derives substantial revenue from interstate or international commerce.” “The conferral of jurisdiction under [that] provision rests on five elements: First, that defendant committed a tortious act outside the State; second, that the cause of action arises from that act; third, that the act caused injury to a person or property within the State; fourth, that defendant expected or should reasonably have expected the act to have consequences in the State; and fifth, that defendant derived substantial revenue from interstate or international commerce” ….  Halas v Dick’s Sporting Goods…Big Dog Treestands, Inc, CA 12-01868, 336, 4th Dept, 4-26-13

 

E-Mail Service to Defendant Living in Iran Deemed Valid

The Fourth Department held that service by e-mail upon the defendant in a matrimonial action was valid.  The defendant was living in Iran and the trial judge (Supreme Court, Monroe County, Dollinger, J.) ordered that service be accomplished by e-mail pursuant to CPLR 308 (5).  The Fourth Department wrote:

“CPLR 308 (5) vests a court with the discretion to direct an alternative method for service of process when it has determined that the methods set forth in CPLR 308 (1), (2), and (4) are ‘impracticable’ ” …. “Although the impractability standard is not capable of easy definition” …, “[a] showing of impracticability under CPLR 308 (5) does not require proof of actual prior attempts to serve a party under the methods outlined pursuant to subdivisions (1), (2) or (4) of CPLR 308” ….“The meaning of ‘impracticable’ will depend upon the facts and circumstances of the particular case” ….

Here, we conclude that plaintiff made a sufficient showing that service upon defendant pursuant to CPLR 308 (1), (2), or (4) was impracticable, and thus that the court providently exercised its discretion in directing an alternative method of service …. Plaintiff submitted evidence that defendant left the United States with the parties’ child and declared her intention to remain in Iran with her family … . Further, plaintiff established that Iran and the United States do not have diplomatic relations and that Iran is not a signatory to the Hague Convention on Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil and Commercial Matters (20 UST 361, TIAS No. 6638). Plaintiff thus requested alternative service upon defendant’s parents in Iran, with whom defendant was residing.

In light of those unique circumstances, we conclude that the court properly determined that service upon defendant was “impracticable by any method of service specified in CPLR 308 (1), (2), and (4).”

“Once the impracticability standard is satisfied, due process requires that the method of service be ‘reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances, to apprise’ the defendant of the action” ….

“In order to be constitutionally adequate, the method of service need not guarantee that the defendant will receive actual notice” ….

Here, the court initially ordered service of the summons by (1) personal service upon defendant’s parents; (2) mail service upon defendant at her parents’ address in Iran; and (3) service upon defendant by plaintiff’s Iranian attorneys in accordance with Iranian law.

Pursuant to that order, plaintiff mailed the summons and notice to defendant at her parents’ last known address in Tehran and submitted a declaration by his Iranian attorney that at least two attempts were made to effect personal service upon defendant at that address.

Although defendant contended that the address used for service was “bogus,” the record reflects that the address was in fact used by defendant and/or her parents in some capacity.

Indeed, defendant supplied that address to the child’s pediatrician in requesting the child’s medical records, and she averred that her father ultimately received the documents from a “tenant” who lived at that address.

When plaintiff was unable to effect personal service upon defendant’s parents pursuant to the court’s order, the court relieved him of that obligation and instead permitted service “via email at each email address that [p]laintiff knows [d]efendant to have.” Although service of process by email “is not directly authorized by either the CPLR or the Hague Convention, it is not prohibited under either state or federal law, or the Hague Convention” … and, indeed, “both New York courts and federal courts have, upon application by plaintiffs, authorized [e]mail service of process as an appropriate alternative method when the statutory methods have proven ineffective” … .
Contrary to the contention of defendant, we conclude that plaintiff made the requisite showing that service by email was “reasonably calculated to apprise defendant of the pending lawsuit and thus satisfie[d] due process” … .
The record reflects that, for several months prior to the application for alternative service, the parties had been communicating via email at the two email addresses subsequently used for service. Although defendant claimed that she did not receive either of the emails, she acknowledged receipt of a subsequent email from plaintiff’s attorney sent to the same two email addresses.
We thus conclude that, under the circumstances of this case, the court properly determined that service of the summons with notice upon defendant by email was an appropriate form of service … .  Safadjou v Mohammadi, CA 12-00271, 359, 4th Dept, 4-26-13

 

 

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Conclusory Allegations of Customer Confusion Insufficient to Defeat Motion for Summary Judgment

In reversing the motion court’s grant of summary judgment to the plaintiff in an unfair competition action, the Fourth Department determined that conclusory allegations of customer confusion or mistake in plaintiff’s affidavit were not sufficient, and the exhibits attached to the affidavit to demonstrate customer confusion were not admissible under the business records exception to the hearsay rule (insufficient foundation).  KG2, LLC … v Weller…, CA 12-01225, 338, 4th Dept. 4-26-13

 

Injury When Stepping Off a Ladder Not Actionable under Labor Law 240(1)—Injury Not Related to the Need for the Ladder

Plaintiff was injured when he stepped from a ladder onto a hose and grain dust.  The Fourth Department determined Supreme Court erred when it denied summary judgment to the defendant in a Labor Law 240 (1) action because “plaintiff’s injury resulted from a separate hazard wholly unrelated to the danger that brought about the need for the ladder in the first instance…”.  Smith v E E Austin & Son, Inc, CA 12-01554, 266, 4th Dept, 4-26-13

 

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Criteria for Appellate Review of Arbitrator’s Award 

The Fourth Department explained the criteria for review of an arbitrator’s award (which involved the writing of a collective bargaining agreement) as follows:

Respondents failed to meet their “heavy burden of demonstrating that the arbitrator[s’] award is . . . totally irrational or clearly exceeds a specifically enumerated limitation on the arbitrator’s power” … . Where, as here, the role of the arbitration panel is to “write collective bargaining agreements for the parties . . . , [i]t follows that such awards, on judicial review, are to be measured according to whether they are rational or arbitrary and capricious” … . “[I]t need only appear from the decision of the arbitrators that the criteria specified in the statute[, i.e., the Taylor Law,] were ‘considered’ in good faith and that the resulting award has a ‘plausible basis’ ” … . We conclude that the decision of the arbitrators meets that standard here.  Matter of Arbitration …, CA 12-02127, 377, 4th Dept, 4-26-13

 

 

Mental Health Counseling Can Not Be Made a Condition of Visitation and Court Can Not Delegate Authority to Determine When Visitation Should Be Resumed

In upholding Family Court’s denial of visitation to the mother, the Fourth Department noted:  “The court erred, however, in directing the mother to engage in mental health counseling as a condition of visitation and in delegating its authority to the children’s counselor to determine when a resumption of visitation would be appropriate … .”  Matter of Roskwitalski, v Fleming, CAF 12-01090, 370, 4th Dept, 4-26-13

 

Hearsay Evidence in Neglect Proceeding Was Not Admissible—Petition Dismissed

In reversing Family Court and dismissing a neglect petition against the father, the Fourth Department determined the hearsay evidence presented against the father was inadmissible:

At the fact-finding hearing…, “only competent, material and relevant evidence may be admitted” (§ 1046 [b] [iii]). Here, “[t]he evidence offered in support of the petition against the father consisted almost entirely of out-of-court statements made by the mother to a police officer and caseworker[s] concerning a domestic dispute” …. Those statements were not admissible against the father in the absence of a showing that they came within a statutory or common-law exception to the hearsay rule … Contrary to the statement of Supreme Court, we conclude that the hearsay statements were not admissible “under article 10” of the Family Court Act (see generally § 1046 [a]). Matter of Nicholas C, CAF 11-01532, 305, 4th Dept, 4-26-13

 

Father Whose Parental Rights Had Been Terminated Had Standing to Seek Modification or Vacatur of Order of Protection

The Fourth Department determined that a father whose parental rights had been terminated had standing to seek modification or vacatur of a ten-year-old order of protection.  The Fourth Department wrote:

Pursuant to Family Court Act § 656, the court may issue an order of protection in conjunction with any other order issued pursuant to article 6, i.e., an order terminating parental rights. We conclude that the order terminating the father’s parental rights is separate and distinct from the order of protection entered in conjunction with that termination order. Thus, the father has standing to challenge the validity of that separate order of protection.  Matter of Anna B …, CAF 12-00562, 303, 4th Dept, 4-26-13

 

Incarcerated Father Entitled to Reinstatement of His Petition for Visitation

In reversing the dismissal of an incarcerated father’s petition for visitation with his nine-year-old child, the Fourth Department wrote:

Here, we conclude that “the record is not sufficient to determine whether visitation [with the father] would be detrimental to [the child’s] welfare” …  Additionally, neither the mother nor the [attorney for the child] presented any evidence rebutting the presumption that visitation with the father is in the child’s best interests, and the record does not otherwise contain any evidence rebutting that presumption … .  Matter of Brown v Divelbliss, CAF 12-00555, 234, 4th Dept, 4-26-13

 

Inability of One of Two Children to Get Along with Custodial Parent Was a Sufficient Changed Circumstance to Justify the Award of Custody of that One Child to the Other Parent

The Fourth Department affirmed Family Court’s ruling that the father had demonstrated a change of circumstances warranting the change of custody for one of two children based upon the mother’s strained relationship with that one child:

Here, the parties vary only in their ability “to provide for the child’s emotional and intellectual development” …, and the court implicitly concluded that the mother was the less fit parent with respect to that factor …. The court determined that it was in Kaitlyn’s best interests to reside with the father because of the stress caused by the mother’s interactions with her, but that it was in Danielle’s best interests to continue residing with the mother because she had learned to cope with her mother’s personality. “Although the separation of siblings is unfortunate” …, here the children have different needs.  Indeed, this “is one of those rare cases where the breakdown in communication between the parent and child that would require a change of custody is ‘applicable only as to the best interests of one of [two] children’ ” …. Matter of O’Connell, v O’Connell, CAF 12=01649, 232, 4th Dept, 4-26-13

 

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