D & L Distribution, LLC v. Agxplore International, LLC

959 F. Supp. 2d 757, 2013 WL 1234810, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42707
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 26, 2013
DocketCivil Action No. 12-cv-00810
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 959 F. Supp. 2d 757 (D & L Distribution, LLC v. Agxplore International, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
D & L Distribution, LLC v. Agxplore International, LLC, 959 F. Supp. 2d 757, 2013 WL 1234810, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42707 (E.D. Pa. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION

JAMES KNOLL GARDNER, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss or, in the Alternative, Transfer and Consolidate, which motion was filed on March 27, 2012.1 On April 17, 2012 the Response of D & L Distribution, LLC and Melvin R. Weaver & Sons, LLC to Agxplore’s Motion to Dismiss or Transfer and Consolidate was filed.2

SUMMARY OF DECISION

Defendant in the within action, Agxplore International, LLC (“Agxplore”) filed a [761]*761complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Southeastern Division alleging trademark infringement, unfair competition, and related claims, against Mark Shelley, a former Agxplore employee and an alleged current employee of plaintiffs in the within action, D & L Distribution, LLC and Melvin R. Weaver & Sons, LLC. Two weeks later, D & L Distribution, LLC and Melvin R. Weaver & Sons, LLC filed the within action in this court seeking a declaratory judgment that its use of trademarks identical to those at issue in Agxplore’s Missouri complaint does not infringe any common law, state, or federal law protections available to Agxplore’s trademarks.

Defendant Agxplore filed its within motion to dismiss the within action in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, or in the alternative to transfer it to, and consolidate it with, the action in the Eastern District of Missouri. Defendant’s motion requests dismissal “for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and/or improper venue under the first-filed rule.”

For the reasons expressed below, I grant defendant’s alternative motion to transfer plaintiffs declaratory judgment action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1404(a) and 1406 and the first-filed rule. Because I am transferring this action to the Eastern District of Missouri, I dismiss as moot defendant’s motion to dismiss based upon an allegation of improper venue. To the contrary, I conclude that venue is proper in Missouri. I deny defendant’s motion to consolidate this proceeding with the proceeding pending in Missouri because I leave the procedural question of how best to proceed with this declaratory judgment action post-transfer to the assigned judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Southeastern Division.

I also deny defendant’s motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because I conclude that both this court and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri have concurrent subject matter jurisdiction over this matter. Jurisdiction is proper pursuant to both diversity jurisdiction because the parties are citizens of different states, and federal question jurisdiction because the declaratory judgment is based on the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a).

Specifically, I exercise the discretion afforded me through the first-filed rule and the statutes governing transfer of venue to transfer plaintiffs’ declaratory judgment action to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Southeast Division, based on the existence of a previously filed related suit which is currently pending before that court.

More specifically, I find that the defendant in the within action, Agxplore International, LLC, and the plaintiff in the Missouri action are the identical entities. I further find that plaintiffs in the present action, D & L Distribution, LLC and Melvin R. Weaver & Sons, LLC, share a sufficient identity with the defendant in the Missouri action, their alleged employee Mark Shelly, and that the subject matter of the two suits are similarly identical.

Transfer will allow the Eastern District of Missouri to adjudicate both claims, which will promote judicial economy and foreclose the danger of conflicting rulings. Further, I conclude that plaintiffs have not sustained their burden of showing that compelling circumstances exist to allow divergence from the first-filed rule.

JURISDICTION

Jurisdiction in this action is based upon diversity of citizenship. Plaintiffs D & L Distribution, LLC and Melvin R. Weaver & Sons, LLC are Pennsylvania limited liability companies with all members having [762]*762Pennsylvania citizenship. Defendant Agxplore International, LLC is a Missouri limited liability company with all members having Missouri citizenship. The amount in controversy is in excess of $75,000. See 28 U.S.C. § 1332.

Alternatively, jurisdiction is proper pursuant to federal question jurisdiction because the declaratory judgment action is based on the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a). Plaintiffs seek a declaration that they are not infringing upon Agxplore’s federally registered trademarks. See 28 U.S.C. § 1331.

VENUE

Venue is contested in this case. Venue is proper in the Eastern District of Missouri pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b)(2) because defendant is a limited liability company which is subject to the personal jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.3

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The Missouri Action

On January 30, 2012 plaintiff Agxplore International, LLC filed suit against defendant Mark Shelley4 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Southeast Division, alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition under 15 U.S.C. §§ 1125(a) and 1114, unfair competition under Missouri state and common law, Missouri state-law breach of contract, declaratory relief and tortious interference with business expectancy (“Missouri case”).5

In the Missouri case, Agxplore alleges that Mr. Shelley “helped others adopt product lines (and now sells competing product lines) using names confusingly similar” to trademarked products registered to Agxplore.6 Specifically, the Complaint alleges that Mr. Shelley helped [763]*763name, and currently sells, the following products: N-ERGIZE, NUTRIPOWER, SULPOWER, BORPOWER, CALPOWER, CHARGE CSOC, AND SPREADER 910. Agxplore contends that the marketing and sale of these products infringe on its registered trademarks ENERGIZE, NUTRIPAK, SULPAK, BORPAK, CAL-PAK, CHARGE, AND SPREAD 90.7

On July 9, 2012 Keith Snider, Mr. Shelley’s partner in the unnamed LLC, was deposed in the Missouri action. His deposition testimony indicated that Mr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
959 F. Supp. 2d 757, 2013 WL 1234810, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42707, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/d-l-distribution-llc-v-agxplore-international-llc-paed-2013.