In re Telexfree Sec. Litig.

358 F. Supp. 3d 118
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in In re Telexfree Sec. Litig.. Read the opinion of the Court — 357 F. Supp. 3d 70
District Court, District of Columbia·Decided January 29, 2019·No. MDL No. 4:14-md-02566-TSH·Published

Opinion

Discussion

Subject Matter Jurisdiction

The Defendants claim that this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction because *121they have not alleged an injury in fact sufficient to confer Article III standing. The SCAC establishes that the Plaintiffs are seeking to represent the class of person who purchased TelexFree packages and suffered a "net loss". The complaint does not state how much money was invested, how much was withdrawn or when the money was invested.

The SCAC sufficiently alleges that Plaintiffs Rita D. Dos Santos and Celio Da Silva invested funds in TelexFree and were swindled when TelexFree converted those funds which went to various Defendants. The Plaintiffs allege that the financial services providers such as Base and Hughes aided and abetted TelexFree and the so called "Operational Defendants" by knowingly providing substantial assistance in accepting, processing, and misappropriating the funds that they invested into TelexFree. Those allegations are sufficient to establish subject matter jurisdiction.

Personal Jurisdiction

Base and Hughes assert that this court also lacks personal jurisdiction over Base defendants because they are Arizona residents and that neither has had sufficient contacts with Massachusetts to satisfy the Massachusetts long arm statute or the due process clause of the United States Constitution.

While courts have held that the MDL statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1407, "authoriz[es] the federal courts to exercise nationwide personal jurisdiction," it is also well established that "[i]n an MDL case, personal jurisdiction is derived from the transferor court ." In re "Agent Orange" Prod. Liab. Litig. , 818 F.2d 145, 163 (2d Cir.1987) ; In re WellNx Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig. , No. 07-MD-1861, 2010 WL 3652457, at *1 (D. Mass. Sept. 15, 2010) (emphasis added); see also In re FMC Corp. Patent Litig. , 422 F.Supp. 1163, 1165 (J.P.M.L.1976) ("Transfers under Section 1407 are simply not encumbered by considerations of in personam jurisdiction and venue.... Following a transfer, the transferee judge has all the jurisdiction and powers over pretrial proceedings in the actions transferred to him that the transferor judge would have had in the absence of transfer.")

Base and Hughes were served and named in a putative class action filed in the District of Arizona (Docket 2:15-cv-01906-NVW) which was served on them and transferred to this court on October 20, 2015 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407 as a part of the present MDL. Base and Hughes both admit to being residents of the State of Arizona and thus both are subject to the jurisdiction of the Arizona transferor court. They provide no basis in law for their assertion that the Plaintiffs filing and serving them on a duplicate of the Third Consolidated Amended Complaint in the District of Arizona "somehow waived Plaintiffs argument that § 1407 confers Nationwide personal jurisdiction." Accordingly, this court has personal jurisdiction over Base and Hughes for all pre-trial purposes.

Failure to state a claim for relief

To withstand a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, a complaint must allege a claim that plausibly entitles the plaintiff to relief. Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). Plausibility does not require probability but "it asks for more than a sheer possibility the defendant has acted unlawfully." Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (citing Twombly , 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955 ). "If the factual allegations in the complaint are too meager, vague, or conclusory to remove the possibility of relief from the realm of mere conjecture, the complaint is open to dismissal."

*122Rodriguez-Reyes v. Molina-Rodriguez , 711 F.3d 49, 53 (1st Cir. 2013) (quoting SEC v. Tambone , 597 F.3d 436, 442 (1st Cir. 2010) (en banc) ). "[A] conclusory allegation ... does not supply facts adequate to show illegality [whereas] [a]n allegation ... much like a naked assertion ... gets the complaint close to stating a claim, but without some further factual enhancement it stops short of the line between possibility and plausibility of entitlement to relief." Twombly , 550 U.S. at 557, 127 S.Ct. 1955.

Rule 9(b) imposes a heightened pleading standard for claims based on fraud. When an aiding and abetting claim sounds in fraud, it must be plead with particularity as set forth in Rule 9(b). In re State Street Cases , 2013 WL 5508151 at *16 (D. Mass. Aug. 21, 2013).

Third Claim for Relief: Aiding and Abetting General Laws Chapter 93 § 12 and 69 and Chapter 93A § 2 and 11 .

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In re Telexfree Sec. Litig., 358 F. Supp. 3d 118 (D.D.C. 2019).

358 F. Supp. 3d 118 (In re Telexfree Sec. Litig.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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