Coremetrics, Inc. v. Atomic Park. Com, LLC

370 F. Supp. 2d 1013, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14050, 2005 WL 1208797
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedMay 19, 2005
DocketC-04-0222 EMC
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 370 F. Supp. 2d 1013 (Coremetrics, Inc. v. Atomic Park. Com, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coremetrics, Inc. v. Atomic Park. Com, LLC, 370 F. Supp. 2d 1013, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14050, 2005 WL 1208797 (N.D. Cal. 2005).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS FOR LACK OF JURISDICTION (Docket No. 8)

CHEN, United States Magistrate Judge.

Plaintiff Coremetrics, Inc. (“Coreme-trics”) filed suit against Defendant Atomic-Park.com- LLC (“AtomicPark”) in state court, asserting claims for (1) breach of written contract, (2) fraud, (3) concealment and suppression of facts, (4) accounted stated, (5) open book account, and (6) quantum meruit. Subsequently, Atomic-Park removed the case to federal court on the basis of diversity jurisdiction. Atomic-Park then filed a motion to dismiss the case for lack of personal jurisdiction. Having considered the parties’ briefs and accompanying submissions, as well as the oral argument of counsel, the Court hereby DENIES the motion to dismiss.

*1015 I. FACTUAL & PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Coremetrics is a Delaware corporation that transacts business in California. See Compl. ¶ 1. It helps companies increase their e-business by capturing and analyzing all online visitor and customer interactions. See Compl. ¶ 1; see also Resnick Decl. ¶2 (“Coremetrics is an online marketing analytics platform that captures visitor clickstream and purchase activity on our clients’ websites in specialized data collection servers.”).

AtomicPark is a Wisconsin LLC. See Compl. ¶ 8. It is “a software e-tailer, which essentially means [it is] a retailer on line and [it] primarily sell[s] software to both businesses and consumers.” Farrer Decl., Ex. H at 5 (Boldin deposition). On or about September 26, 2002, AtomicPark hired Coremetrics to provide professional services in connection with analyzing and making recommendations for improving AtomicPark’s website. See Compl. ¶ 8. Coremetrics and AtomicPark signed a MarketForce Services Agreement. See id. & Ex. A. Thereafter, Coremetrics sent an invoice to AtomicPark for $29,000-consti-tuting initial service and implementation fees-and provided its services to Atomic-Park. See id. ¶¶ 8, 10.

On or about September 16, 2003, Corem-etrics sent a demand letter to AtomicPark for payment of the $29,000 invoice. See id. ¶ 11. AtomicPark, however, did not pay. See id. On or about October 15, 2003, Plaintiff invoiced AtomicPark for the total amount due under the Agreement-a total of $103,812.60 (including the $29,000 for the first invoice and interest that had accrued). See id. ¶ 12. Once again, Atomic-Park did not pay.

Subsequently, Coremetrics sued Atomic-Park for (1) breach of written contract, (2) fraud, (3) concealment and suppression of facts, (4) accounted stated, (5) open book account, and (6) quantum meruit.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Legal Standard

In its motion, AtomicPark argues that this case should be dismissed because the Court does not have general jurisdiction over AtomicPark. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2) governs dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction. See Doe v. Unocal Corp., 248 F.3d 915, 921 (9th Cir.2001). Coremetrics, as the plaintiff in this case, has the burden of establishing that the Court has personal jurisdiction. See id. at 922. However, “‘when a district court acts on a defendant’s motion to dismiss without holding an evidentiary hearing, the plaintiff need make only a prima facie showing of jurisdictional facts to withstand the motion to dismiss. That is, the plaintiff need only demonstrate facts that if true would support jurisdiction over the defendant.’ ” Id.; see also AT&T v. Compagnie Bruxelles Lambert, 94 F.3d 586, 588 (9th Cir.1996) (stating that, where trial court rules on jurisdictional issue based on affidavits and discovery materials without holding evidentiary hearing, plaintiff need only make prima facie showing). 1 “Where not directly controverted, plain *1016 tiffs version of the facts is taken as true for the purposes of a 12(b)(2) motion to dismiss. Likewise, ‘conflicts between the facts contained in the parties’ affidavits must be resolved in [plaintiffs’], favor for purposes of deciding whether a prima facie case for personal jurisdiction exists.’ ” Id.; see also Schwarzenegger v. Fred Martin Motor Co., 374 F.3d 797, 800 (9th Cir.2004) (stating that “plaintiff cannot ‘simply rest on the bare allegations of its complaint’ [but that] uncontroverted allegations in the complaint must be taken as true” and “[c]onflicts between parties over statements contained in affidavits must be resolved in the plaintiffs favor”).

B. General Jurisdiction

Where there is no applicable federal statute governing personal jurisdiction, a court applies the law of the state in which the district court sits. See Schwarzenegger, 374 F.3d at 80Ó. “Because California’s long-arm jurisdictional statute is coextensive with federal due process requirements, the jurisdictional analyses under state law and federal due process are the same. For a court to exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant, that defendant must have at least ‘minimum contacts’ with the relevant forum such that the exercise of jurisdiction ‘does not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.’ ” 2 Id. at 800-01.

There are two kinds of personal jurisdiction: general jurisdiction and specific jurisdiction. In its motion to dismiss, Atom-icPark argues that this Court has neither general nor specific jurisdiction over it. In its opposition, Coremetrics only argues that this Court has general jurisdiction. 3

“General jurisdiction refers to jurisdiction to adjudicate claims that do not arise from the defendant’s contacts with the forum state. Thus, if a defendant is amenable to general jurisdiction in a state, the state may exercise jurisdiction over the defendant based on any claim, including claims unrelated to the defendant’s contacts with the state.” 16-108 Moore’s Fed. Prac.-Civ. § 108.40; see also Synopsys, Inc. v. Ricoh Co., Ltd., 343 F.Supp.2d 883, 886 (N.D.Cal.2003) (noting the same regarding general jurisdiction).

For general jurisdiction to exist over a defendant, the defendant must engage in “substantial” or “continuous and systematic” contacts that approximate physical presence in the forum state. 4 See Schwar *1017 zenegger, 374 F.3d at 801; Bancroft & Masters, Inc. v. Augusta Nat’l, Inc., 223 F.3d 1082, 1086 (9th Cir.2000).

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370 F. Supp. 2d 1013, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14050, 2005 WL 1208797, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coremetrics-inc-v-atomic-park-com-llc-cand-2005.