EFOFEX, INC v. REALHUB INC.

CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedJune 8, 2023
Docket3:21-cv-08454
StatusUnknown

This text of EFOFEX, INC v. REALHUB INC. (EFOFEX, INC v. REALHUB INC.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
EFOFEX, INC v. REALHUB INC., (D.N.J. 2023).

Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY

EFOFEX, INC., et al., Plaintiffs, V. Civil Action No. 21-8454 (MAS) (TJB) REALHUB INC. ef al., MEMORANDUM OPINION

Defendants.

SHIPP, District Judge This matter comes before the Court on Defendants Datta Holdings, LLC (“Datta”) and Sarange Sam Sharma’s (“Sharma,” and, together with Datta, “Defendants”) Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs Efofex, Inc. (“Efofex”) and Textrade Inc.’s (“Textrade,” and together with Efofex, “Plaintiffs”) Amended Complaint. (ECF No. 21.) Plaintiffs opposed (ECF No. 26), and Defendants did not reply. Thereafter, in July 2022, the Court issued an order (‘the July Order”) granting limited jurisdictional discovery. (See generally July Order, ECF No. 27.) The parties subsequently filed a flurry of correspondence based on this jurisdictional discovery. (ECF Nos. 28-31.) The Court has carefully considered the parties’ submissions and decides the matter without oral argument under Local Civil Rule 78.1. For the reasons below, the Court grants Defendants’ Motion.

1. BACKGROUND! This matter arises out of the widely publicized rash of counterfeit 3M N95 masks manufactured during the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the latter half of 2020, Efofex agreed to provide the State of Maine with a number of masks, contracting with Defendant Realhub Inc. (“Realhub”) to purchase masks and fulfill that order. (See Am. Compl. ff 19-24.) Efofex placed and paid for the orders, yet Realhub would deliver the masks to a warehouse in Dayton, New Jersey, operated by Textrade. Ud. Jf] 24, 26 29, 41, 45-47.) To fulfill Efofex’s purchase orders, Realhub worked with Defendant Aster Impact (“Aster”), which connected Realhub with Datta, an importer of 3M N95 masks. (Ud. 5, 63.) According to Plaintiffs, however, Realhub did not meet its contractual obligations to deliver the promised number of 3M N95 masks to the New Jersey warehouse by December 2020. Ud. J] 43-45, 49.) Plaintiffs also allege that Realhub delivered counterfeit masks. Ud. 51-59.) In April 2021, Plaintiffs sued Realhub, Datta, Aster, and their associated principals. (See generally Compl., ECF No. 1.) As to Defendants Datta and Sharma, Plaintiffs’ original Complaint asserted claims for fraud, unjust enrichment, and tortious interference with economic advantage. (See id.) Defendants moved to dismiss the original Complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction over them under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2)? and for failure to state actionable fraud and unjust enrichment claims under Rule 12(b)(6). (See Defs.’ First Moving Br., ECF No. 12-1.) In the November Opinion, the Court granted Defendants’ First Motion to Dismiss for lack of personal

' The Court adopts the factual background as recited in its November 22, 2021, Memorandum Opinion (the “November Opinion,” ECF No. 18) and only provides additional background and procedural information where relevant for the instant Motion. For the purpose of considering the instant Motion, the Court accepts all factual allegations in the Amended Complaint as true. See Phillips v. County of Allegheny, 515 F.3d 224, 233 (3d Cir. 2008). ? All references to a “Rule” or “Rules” hereinafter refer to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

jurisdiction over any claim. (Nov. Op. 7.) The Court also granted leave for Plaintiffs to refile an amended complaint. (See generally Nov. Order, ECF No. 19.) In December 2021, Plaintiffs filed the Amended Complaint. (See generally Am. Compl., ECF No. 20.) The Amended Complaint alleges, among other allegations against separate defendants, fraud (Count IT); unjust enrichment (Count ITD; and tortious interference (Count IV) against Defendants. (/d.) Defendants filed the instant Motion to Dismiss, again for lack of personal jurisdiction and failure to state a claim. (See generally Defs.’ Moving Br., ECF No. 21-1.) Plaintiffs opposed (ECF No. 26), and Defendants did not reply. Later, upon review of the Amended Complaint, the Court issued the July Order. There, the Court expressed its skepticism that the new allegations established personal jurisdiction but found that the new allegations warranted limited jurisdictional discovery. (See July Order 4.) The Court administratively terminated and held in abeyance the Motion to Dismiss pending the conclusion of jurisdictional discovery. (/d.) This jurisdictional discovery concluded in August 2022, and so began the parties’ flurry of correspondence on the meaning of said discovery. (See ECF Nos. 28-31.) With the parties’ correspondence in mind, as well as the parties’ briefing on the Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint (with its accompanying exhibits), the Court turns to the Motion to Dismiss.

3 The Third Circuit has previously recognized that “a court may consider an undisputedly authentic document that a defendant attaches as an exhibit to a motion to dismiss if the plaintiff's claims are based on the document.” Pension Benefit Guar. Corp. v. White Consol. Indus., Inc., 998 F.2d 1192, 1196-97 (3d Cir. 1993) (internal citations omitted). Here, the Court finds that Plaintiffs’ jurisdictional claims are based on the exhibits attached to the Amended Complaint, and their authenticity does not appear to be contested, Accordingly, the Court takes judicial notice of these exhibits. Moreover, “a court may take judicial notice of public records.” Liberty Int'l Underwriters Canada v. Scottsdale Ins. Co., 955 F. Supp. 2d 317, 324-25 (D.N.J. 2013) (quoting Grynberg v. Total Compagnie Francaise Des Petroles, 891 F. Supp. 2d 663, 675 (D. Del. 2012)). The Court, accordingly, takes judicial notice of the post-jurisdictional discovery correspondences filed by the parties in deciding the instant Motion. (See ECF Nos. 28-31.)

II. LEGAL STANDARD A. Rule 12(b)(2) Under Rule 12(b)(2), a defendant may move to dismiss an action for lack of personal jurisdiction. “[O]nce a defendant has raised a jurisdictional defense, the plaintiff must provfe] by affidavits or other competent evidence that jurisdiction is proper.” Metcalfe v. Renaissance Marine, Inc., 566 F.3d 324, 330 (3d Cir. 2009) (second alteration in original) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). In a diversity action, a New Jersey federal court “has jurisdiction over parties to the extent provided under New Jersey state law.” Miller Yacht Sales, Inc. v. Smith, 384 F.3d 93, 96 (3d Cir. 2004) (citations omitted). “New Jersey’s long-arm statute provides for jurisdiction coextensive with the due process requirements of the United States Constitution.” Jd. (citations omitted). “Thus, parties who have constitutionally sufficient ‘minimum contacts’ with New Jersey are subject to suit there.” Jd. (citation omitted). A federal district court may exercise two types of personal jurisdiction: general jurisdiction and specific jurisdiction. O’Connor v. Sandy Lane Hotel Co., 496 F.3d 312, 317 (3d Cir. 2007) (citing Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia, S.A. v. Hall, 466 U.S. 408, 414-15 & n.9 (1984)). General jurisdiction exists when a defendant’s “affiliations with the State are so ‘continuous and systematic’ as to render [it] essentially at home in the forum State.” Daimler AG v. Bauman, 571 U.S.

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