Bissonnette v. Podlaski

138 F. Supp. 3d 616, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137059, 2015 WL 5853834
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedOctober 7, 2015
DocketNo. 14-CV-8810 (JMF)
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 138 F. Supp. 3d 616 (Bissonnette v. Podlaski) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bissonnette v. Podlaski, 138 F. Supp. 3d 616, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137059, 2015 WL 5853834 (S.D.N.Y. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

JESSE M. FURMAN, District Judge:

Plaintiff Matthew Bissonnette is a retired—and highly decorated—Navy SEAL who participated in the 2011 mission that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda and the architect of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Under the pseudonym Mark Owen, Plaintiff published a best-selling book about the mission titled No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account -of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden in 2012. The book apparently led the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) to investigate Plaintiff for violation of his contractual duties as a Navy SEAL and the Department of Defense (“DOD”) to threaten Plaintiff with a civil forfeiture. In this case, Plaintiff brings suit against his former attorney Kevin Podlaski and Podla-ski’s former firm, Carson Boxberger, LLP (“CB”) (together, “Defendants”), alleging, inter alia, that Defendants committed legal malpractice by advising him to forego pre-públication review of his book by the DOD and other governmental agencies and by failing to properly review the' book for classified or otherwise sensitive information—actions that, he alleges, resulted in the DOJ investigation and the DOD threat of legal action.

Defendants move to dismiss Plaintiffs Second Amended Complaint (the “Complaint”), pursuant to Rule 12(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, for lack of personal jurisdiction. (Docket No. 36). Significantly, the motion does not call upon the Court to wade into the merits of the parties’ dispute, let alone the question of whether Plaintiff violated his contractual obligations or any laws in publishing No Easy Day. Instead, the threshold question that faces the Court is whether Plaintiff can bring suit against Defendants, an Indiana attorney and an Indiana law firm, in this District. Applying well-established and binding precedent, the Court concludes that he cannot. Accordingly, and for the reasons stated below, Defendants’ motion is granted, and the Complaint is dismissed in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

. The following facts, taken from the Complaint, are assumed to be true for the purposes of this motion. See, e.g., LaFaro v. N.Y. Cardiothoradc Grp., PLLC, 570 F.3d 471, 475 (2d Cir.2009); Kernan v. Kurz-Hastings, Inc., 175 F.3d 236, 240 (2d Cir.1999); Ball v. Metallurgie Hoboken-[619]*619Overpelt, S.A., 902 F.2d 194, 197 (2d Cir. 1990).

Plaintiff participated in many high-profile missions during thirteen consecutive combat deployments as a Navy SEAL, including, as noted, the 2011 mission that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. (Second Am. Compl. (Docket No. 29) (“SAC”) ¶ 15). After witnessing media accounts of the missions in which he participated—descriptions that he believed to be inaccurate—Plaintiff decided to write his own account of the bin Laden raid, told from the perspective of the Navy SEALs themselves. (Id. ¶ 16). Plaintiff retained New York literary agent Elyse Cheney and her firm, Elyse Cheney Literary Associates LLC, and agreed to publish his book with Dutton, an imprint of Penguin'Publishing Group based in New York City. (Id. ¶¶ 9, 18).

Naturally, the subject matter of the proposed book created a risk that Plaintiff could inadvertently disclose confidential information—information that, if released, could pose a threat to the safety of deployed Navy SEALs and expose Plaintiff to criminal or civil liability for violation of nondisclosure agreements he signed during his time with the Navy. (Id. ¶¶ 21-22). Accordingly, Dutton required Plaintiff to ensure that the manuscript he submitted to the publisher did not contain any such information and, to that end, agreed to pay a portion of legal fees in order to enable Plaintiff to secure attorney review of his manuscript. (Id. ¶22; id., Ex. 2 át 11). Cheney then began searching for an attorney with the experience—and security clearance—to advise Plaintiff' on what ‘he could and could not publish. (Id. ¶23).

Cheney’s search led her to Podlaski, an attorney then affiliated with CB, a law practice based in Indiana, (id. 6-7, 23). Cheney reached out to Podlaski—while she was in New York and he was in Indiana—via telephone and e-mail several times; over the course ofrthose conversations, Podlaski “claimed to have a high level of security clearance, said he had vetted other books for retired military, and that he could advise Plaintiff and the support team of professionals "assisting Plaintiff—Cheney, the co-writer, and Dutton— on legal issues arising from Plaintiffs desire to tell the story of the SEALs and comply with his confidentiality obligations.” (Id. ¶24). In January 2012, Defendants drafted an engagement letter for Plaintiff, which they addressed and delivered to Cheney in New York. (Id. ¶25). To the extent relevant here, the letter provided that pefendants would assist Plaintiff with any legal issues he would encounter in

[cjontraeting with Dutton, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014 (“Publisher”), for the publication of your manuscript about your career as a member of the U.S. Navy SEALS; and reviewing the publishable manuscript of your career to ensure your compliance with your obligations under any agreements you may have signed with the U.S. Government riot to release classified or classifiable information or otherwise compromise the national security interests of the United States, as those térms are used, intended or understood in Standard Form 312, Confidential Information Non-Disclosure Agreement (“CINA”), or any other such agreements.

(Id. ¶25; id., Ex. 3 at 1). The engagement letter further indicated that all legal bills were to be sent to Cheney’s office in New York City. (Id. ¶ 25; id., Ex. 3 at 2). Defendants knew that the contract “on which Defendants were advising Plaintiff[ ] was performable in New York, was governed by the laws of New York, and fixed [620]*620the exclusive venue of any dispute as” this Court. (Id. ¶ 26).

In January and February 2012, Defendants reviewed Plaintiffs contract with Dutton and suggested several revisions during conferences with Cheney, including one change that added Podlaski by name in the section concerning attorney review of the manuscript. (Id. ¶¶ 27, 29; id., Ex. 2 at 11). The contract, as executed, specified that courts in the Southern District of New York “shall have sole and exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any suit, action, proceeding, claim, controversy or dispute arising under or concerning this Agreement exclusively between” Dutton and Plaintiff. (Id., Ex. 2 at 13).1 Notably, Defendants did not suggest any revisions to the Dutton contract to account for delays in the event that the U.S. Government wished to edit or redact Plaintiffs manuscript. (Id. ¶ 28).

In June 2012, after the Dutton contract was finalized, Defendants turned to their second obligation under the engagement letter with Plaintiff: reviewing Plaintiffs manuscript to ensure it was free of confidential information. (Id. ¶¶ 31, 41).

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Bluebook (online)
138 F. Supp. 3d 616, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137059, 2015 WL 5853834, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bissonnette-v-podlaski-nysd-2015.