Hartford Casualty Insurance v. Sany America, Inc.

991 F. Supp. 2d 1303, 2014 WL 68543, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2300
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedJanuary 8, 2014
DocketCivil Action No. 3:13-cv-157-TCB
StatusPublished

This text of 991 F. Supp. 2d 1303 (Hartford Casualty Insurance v. Sany America, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hartford Casualty Insurance v. Sany America, Inc., 991 F. Supp. 2d 1303, 2014 WL 68543, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2300 (N.D. Ga. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER

TIMOTHY C. BATTEN, SR., District Judge.

Before the Court is Defendant SANY America, Inc.’s motion to dismiss for improper venue [6].

I. Background

This is a declaratory-judgment action brought by two insurers against their insured and its employee. The insurers, Plaintiffs Hartford Casualty Insurance Company and Hartford Fire Insurance Company, seek a declaration of noncoverage with respect to policies they issued to Defendant SANY.

SANY is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Peachtree City, Georgia. Defendant Hui Xiao was an employee of SANY during the coverage period. Xiao’s state of residence is not identified in the complaint, but the complaint does aver that he is a “non-resident of Georgia.” As of the date of this Order, he has not been served.1

SANY and Xiao have been named as defendants in a wrongful-death suit pending in state court in Harris County, Texas (the underlying action). The underlying action, which was filed on May 14, 2010, arises from an accident that occurred in Harris County on April 30, 2010. In late June 2012, Plaintiffs received notice from SANY of the accident, the underlying action, and Defendants’ policy claims for defense costs and indemnification.

Plaintiffs issued three policies to SANY with effective dates of April 16, 2010 through April 16, 2011: (1) a commercial automobile liability policy; (2) a commercial general liability policy; and (3) an umbrella policy. The policies were delivered to SANY at its principal place of business in Peachtree City, and in June 2012 SANY’s Georgia insurance agent, also located in this district, informed Plaintiffs of the accident and the underlying action.

On September 6, 2013, Plaintiffs filed this action in which they seek a declaration of noncoverage. On November 19, 2013, SANY filed a motion to dismiss for improper venue pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(3) and 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a).

[1305]*1305II. Legal Standard

Rule 12(b)(3) allows a party to present by motion the defense of improper venue. 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a) provides that the “district court of a district in which is filed a case laying venue in the wrong division or district shall dismiss, or if it be in the interest of justice, transfer such case to any district or division in which it could have been brought.” Venue is determined by 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b), which provides,

A civil action may be brought in — (1) a judicial district in which any defendant resides, if all defendants are residents of the State in which the district is located; (2) a judicial district in which a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred, or a substantial part of property that is the subject of the action is situated; or (3) if there is no district in which an action may otherwise be brought as provided in this section, any judicial district in which any defendant is subject to the court’s personal jurisdiction with respect to such action.

In some cases, venue will be proper in more than one district. Jenkins Brick Co. v. Bremer, 321 F.3d 1366, 1371 (11th Cir.2003).

III. Discussion

As an initial matter, § 1391(b)(1) does not apply to this case. Under that subsection, venue lies in the district where the action was filed if at least one defendant resides therein and all defendants reside in the state where the district is located. Plaintiffs aver in their complaint that Xiao is not a resident of Georgia. Thus, subsection (b)(1) is inapplicable.

Turning to § 1391(b)(2), venue may also lie where a “substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred.” SANY contends that all of the underlying events giving rise to its policy claims occurred in Houston, Texas, which is also where Plaintiffs are defending it and Xiao in the underlying action.2

Plaintiffs respond that even if venue is proper in Houston, Texas, venue is also proper in this district, as a substantial part of the events giving rise to Plaintiffs’ lawsuit occurred here. They rely on the fact that the policies under which SANY seeks coverage were procured, delivered and allegedly breached in this district.

The Court finds the Eleventh Circuit’s analysis of § 1391(b)(2) in Jenkins Brick, 321 F.3d at 1371-73, instructive. There, an employer sued its former employee, who went to work for a competitor, to enforce non-compete clauses in the parties’ employment agreement. Jenkins Brick was an Alabama corporation, and the employee lived and worked in Georgia. Jenkins Brick filed suit in the Middle District of Alabama, and the district court subsequently transferred the action to the Southern District of Georgia pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). The employee then moved for summary judgment on Jenkins Brick’s claims, and whether the non-compete clauses were enforceable depended on whether venue was proper in Alabama or Georgia. Given the procedural posture of the case, the parties agreed that § 1391(b)(2) determined venue.

The circuit court explained that under subsection (b)(2) venue could be proper in more than one district, but the court emphasized that “[o]nly the events that directly give rise to a claim are relevant” to venue, id. at 1371, i.e., “only those acts and omissions that have a close nexus to the wrong” are taken into account, id. at 1372. Consequently, “of the places where the [1306]*1306events have taken place, only those locations hosting a ‘substantial part’ of the events are to be considered.” Id. at 1372.

Applying these principles, the circuit court looked at the acts or omissions by the employee that gave rise to Jenkins Brick’s claim and where a “substantial part” of those acts or omissions took place. The court held that venue was proper in the Southern District of Georgia because the “events that gave rise to Jenkins Brick’s claim occurred exclusively in Georgia.” Id. Specifically, the contract was presented to and executed by the employee in Georgia; the non-compete clauses were intended to be performed primarily in Savannah, Georgia; and most importantly, the contract was breached in Georgia when the employee failed to abide by the non-compete clauses.

Here, as in Jenkins Brick, Plaintiffs’ declaratory-judgment claim arises from insurance policies issued and delivered in Georgia. But as Jenkins Brick suggests by its consideration of other facts, this alone is not enough to lay venue in this district. Thus, the Court looks at the nature of Plaintiffs’ claim to determine what and where SANY allegedly did wrong.

Plaintiffs essentially aver that SANY does not have coverage for three reasons.

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Bluebook (online)
991 F. Supp. 2d 1303, 2014 WL 68543, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2300, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hartford-casualty-insurance-v-sany-america-inc-gand-2014.