Kennedy v. Yousaf

127 A.D.3d 519, 5 N.Y.S.3d 725

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: April 14, 2015
• Docket: 14797 159310/13
• Status: Published

Opinion

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Manuel J. Mendez, J.), entered May 6, 2014, which granted defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction, unanimously affirmed, with costs.

Plaintiffs failed to establish that defendants transacted business in New York from which plaintiffs’ causes of action arise (see CPLR 302 [a] [1]). Plaintiffs’ own New York activities relating to their management agreement with defendants cannot be attributed to defendants (see Royalty Network, Inc. v Harris, 95 AD3d 775 [1st Dept 2012]). The fact that defendants negotiated the agreement and communicated with plaintiffs via email and telephone is insufficient to constitute the transaction of business in New York (see SunLight Gen. Capital LLC v CJS Invs. Inc., 114 AD3d 521 [1st Dept 2014]). Contrary to their contention, plaintiffs did not demonstrate that defendants intended to take advantage of New York’s unique resources in the entertainment industry (see Royalty Network, 95 AD3d at 776). Nor did plaintiffs show that defendants’ two appearances in New York had a substantial relationship to plaintiffs’ claims (see e.g. Seneca Ins. Co. v Boss, 256 AD2d 175 [1st Dept 1998]).

Concur — Sweeny, J.P., Renwick, Andrias, DeGrasse and Gische, JJ.