Kolikof v. Samuelson

488 F. Supp. 881, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12637
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedMay 19, 1980
DocketCiv. A. 79-1305-C
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 488 F. Supp. 881 (Kolikof v. Samuelson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kolikof v. Samuelson, 488 F. Supp. 881, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12637 (D. Mass. 1980).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

CAFFREY, Chief Judge.

In 1979 plaintiff Kilikof filed this action against defendant Permaform Co., Inc., (hereinafter Permaform), a Pennsylvania corporation with its principal place of business in Pennsylvania and against Permaform’s president, defendant Samuelson, a Pennsylvania resident.

The complaint alleges that in 1976 defendant Samuelson, while he was in Pennsylvania, placed two telephone calls to the plaintiff in Massachusetts. Plaintiff further alleges that Samuelson tape recorded those conversations without the plaintiff’s knowledge in violation of both the Massachusetts Interception of Wire and Oral Communications Act, Mass.Gen.Laws ch. 272 § 99Q and the Pennsylvania Wire Tapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act, 18 Pa.Cons.Stat.Ann. § 5701 et seq. (Purdon). The matter is now before the Court on defendants’ motion to dismiss. Defendants argue that this Court cannot exercise personal jurisdiction over them. Plaintiff maintains that the Court has jurisdiction pursuant to the provisions of subsections (a), (c) and (d) of the Massachusetts Long Arm Statute, Mass.Gen.Laws ch. 223A § 3.

I. JURISDICTION. PURSUANT TO MASS.GEN.LAWS CH. 223A § 3(a)

A court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a person, who acts directly or by an agent, as to a cause of action in law or equity arising from the person’s .
(a) transacting any business in this commonwealth.

Plaintiff asserts that this Court has jurisdiction pursuant to Section 3(a) because the defendant corporation through its president and another agent has been present in Massachusetts for the purpose of transacting business.

Even assuming however for purposes of this motion, that Samuelson and Permaform have been present in Massachusetts for the purpose of transacting business, *883 that presence does not provide the basis for the jurisdiction of this Court under Subsection (a) of the Massachusetts Long Arm Statute unless the cause of action set forth in the complaint arises from those very transactions. As stated above this cause of action arises from the tape recording of two telephone calls from defendant Samuelson in Pennsylvania to the plaintiff in Massachusetts and not from any business transacted in Massachusetts. Thus, Mass.Gen. Laws ch. 223A § 3(a) confers no jurisdiction upon this Court.

II. JURISDICTION PURSUANT TO MASS.GEN.LAWS CH. 223A § 3(c)

A Court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a person, who acts directly or by an agent, as to a cause of action in law or equity arising from the person’s .
(c) causing tortious injury by an act or omission in this commonwealth.

Plaintiff maintains that Section 3(c) provides a basis for this Court’s jurisdiction over the defendants. In so doing plaintiff relies heavily on Murphy v. Erwin-Wasey, Inc., 460 F.2d 661 (1st Cir. 1972). In that decision the Court of Appeals for this Circuit ruled that if “a defendant knowingly sends into a state a false statement, intending that it should there be relied upon to the injury of a resident of that state, he has, for jurisdictional purposes, acted within that state.” Id. at 664. This Court is of the opinion that plaintiff’s reliance on Murphy, is misplaced because the facts upon which that opinion was based and those alleged in the case at bar are readily distinguishable.

In a misrepresentation case such as Murphy, the nature of the information transmitted across state lines is a crucial element of the alleged tort since it is the words themselves which are intended to bring about the injury. Indeed in Murphy, the Court of Appeals compared a sender of false statements into Massachusetts from a point outside the state to a hypothetical gunman firing bullets across state lines. Id. at 664. In the case at bar however no “bullet” has been fired into Massachusetts to cause injury therein. In fact, the words which passed betweeen plaintiff and defendant Samuelson are not relevant to the issue of liability. If plaintiff establishes that the conversations were recorded by the defendants in Pennsylvania without plaintiff’s knowledge, the statutory remedies are available to him no matter how innocent the content of the conversation. The only act necessary to establish the tort therefore occurred in Pennsylvania.

Even more significantly, the tort of misrepresentation is not accomplished by false statements alone. The commission of the tort is not complete until the misinformation is relied upon. Thus in Murphy, not only was the content of the communications sent into Massachusetts significant but also one essential element of the tort — reliance — had allegedly occurred within Massachusetts.

Additionally, in order to commit the tort of misrepresentation a tortfeasor must 1) know that he is making a false statement and 2) intend to induce reliance of his victim. In Murphy, the Court relied on the intent aspects of the tort of misrepresentation in order to overcome any constitutional objections which might otherwise have applied.

The element of intent also persuades us that there can be no constitutional objection to Massachusetts asserting jurisdiction over the out-of-state sender of a fraudulent misrepresentation, for such a sender has thereby “purposefully avail[ed] itself of conducting activities within the forum State, thus invoking the benefits and protections of its laws.”

Id. at 664 (quoting Hanson v. Denckla, 357 U.S. 235, 253, 78 S.Ct. 1228, 1239, 2 L.Ed.2d 1283 (1958). To establish liability u nder the statutes asserted in the case at bar however the plaintiff need not establish any bad faith on the. part of the defendants; the physical act of recording is enough.

For the reasons set forth above therefore, I rule that the tortious act alleged in the instant case did not occur in Massachusetts within the meaning of Section 3(c).

*884 III. JURISDICTION PURSUANT TO MASS.GEN.LAWS CH. 223A' 3(d)

A Court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a person, who acts directly or by an agent, as to a cause of action in law or equity arising from the person’s .
(d) causing tortious injury in this commonwealth ... if he regularly does or solicits business, or engages in any other persistent course of conduct, or derives substantial revenue from goods used or consumed or services rendered in this commonwealth.

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Bluebook (online)
488 F. Supp. 881, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12637, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kolikof-v-samuelson-mad-1980.