Coupe v Caine & Weiner

• Court: District Court, D. New Hampshire
• Decided: January 15, 2013
• Docket: CV-11-292-PB
• Status: Published

Opinion

Coupe v Caine & Weiner CV-11-292-PB 1/15/13 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

George J . Coupe

v. Case No. ll-cv-292-PB Opinion No. 2 013 DNH 015 Caine & Weiner

O R D E R

George Coupe sued Caine & Weiner Company, Inc. ("Caine").

Caine responded with a motion to dismiss arguing, among other

things, that the court lacks personal jurisdiction to hear

Coupe's claims.

In objecting to a motion to dismiss for lack of personal

jurisdiction, the plaintiff bears the burden of persuading the

court that personal jurisdiction exists. Astro-Med, Inc. v.

Nihon Kohden Am., Inc., 591 F.3d 1, 8 (1st Cir. 2009). Because

I have not held a hearing on the motion. Coupe must make a prima

facie showing that the court has personal jurisdiction over the

defendant he has sued. Cossaboon v. Me. Med. Ctr., 600 F.3d 25,

31 (1st Cir. 2010) .

A prima facie showing requires the plaintiff to "proffer[]

evidence which, if credited, is sufficient to support findings of all facts essential to personal jurisdiction." Lechoslaw v.

Bank of Am., N.A., 618 F.3d 49, 54 (1st Cir. 2010) (internal

quotation marks omitted).

Personal jurisdiction in a diversity action over a non­

resident defendant depends on satisfying both the requirements

of the forum state's long-arm statute and the due process

requirements of the Fourteenth Amendment. See Cossaboon, 600

F.3d at 29 n.l; N. Laminate Sales, Inc. v. Davis, 403 F.3d 14,

24 (1st Cir. 2005). New Hampshire's long-arm statutes, RSA §

293-A:15.10 and RSA § 510:4, extend personal jurisdiction to the

extent allowed by due process.1 Hemenway v. Hemenway, 159 N.H.

680, 685 (2010); see also N. Laminate Sales, 403 F.3d at 24; Jet

Wine & Spirits, Inc. v. Bacardi & Co., Ltd., 298 F.3d 1, 7 (1st

Cir. 2002).

A court may exercise either general or specific personal

jurisdiction, depending on the nature of the defendant's

contacts with the forum state. Carreras v. PMG Collins, LLC,

660 F.3d 549, 552 (1st Cir. 2011). In this case. Coupe does not

allege that Caine regularly conducts business in New Hampshire.

1 RSA is an abbreviation for New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated.

2 Thus, his only hope is to argue that the court has specific

personal jurisdiction. Specific personal jurisdiction has three

parts. Adelson v. Hananel, 652 F.3d 75, 80 (1st Cir. 2011). The

first part asks "whether the asserted causes of action arise

from or relate to the defendant's contacts with the forum"; the

second asks "whether the defendant purposefully availed itself

of the protections of the forum's laws by means of those

contacts, such that the defendant could reasonably foresee being

haled into the forum's courts"; and the third asks "whether an

exercise of jurisdiction is consistent with principles of

justice and fair play" in light of the so-called gestalt

factors. Carreras, 660 F.3d at 554 (internal quotation marks

and citations omitted). All three requirements must be

satisfied to support a finding of specific personal

jurisdiction. Negron-Torres, 478 F.3d at 24.

Viewed generously. Coupe's memorandum in opposition to

Caine's motion to dismiss alleges that the court has personal

jurisdiction over Caine because: (1) Coupe is a resident of New

Hampshire and was injured here; (2) Caine sent a collection

letter to Coupe in New Hampshire; and (3) Caine was in

partnership with a former defendant who defrauded Coupe in New

3 Hampshire. Relatedness, however, requires more than an

allegation that the effects of a defendant's wrongful conduct

have been felt in the forum state because the plaintiff is a New

Hampshire resident. See United States v. Swiss America Bank,

Ltd., 274 F.3d 610, 623 (1st Cir. 2001) . Nor is it necessarily

sufficient to merely allege, as Coupe does here, that the

defendant's wrongful conduct is related to New Hampshire because

the defendant sent a letter to the plaintiff's residence or

business in New Hampshire. See Flatten v. HG Bermuda Exempted

Ltd., 437 F.3d 118, 137-38 (1st Cir. 2006). Finally, although

the acts of a partner can be relied on in some circumstances to

satisfy the relatedness requirement with respect to other

partners, see, e.g., Donatelli v. Nat'l Hockey League, 893 F.2d

459, 466 (1st Cir. 1990), a plaintiff must do more than allege

the existence of a partnership in conclusory terms to survive a

personal jurisdiction challenge. See generally Carreras, 660

F.3d at 552 (discussing the prima facie standard).

In the present case. Coupe has failed to plead sufficient

facts in response to Caine's jurisdictional challenge to satisfy

the prima facie standard. Accordingly, Caine's motion to

dismiss (Doc. No. 24) is granted to the extent that it asserts

4 that the court lacks personal jurisdiction to consider Coupe's

claims.

SO ORDERED.

/s/Paul Barbadoro Paul Barbadoro United States District Judge

February 5, 2013

cc: George J. Coupe, pro se Jay M. Niederman, Esq.