OJEDA V. LOUIS BERGER GROUP (DOMESTIC), INC.

District Court, D. New Jersey·Decided April 12, 2021·No. 2:18-cv-17233·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY

IVAN OJEDA, JOSE RODRIGUEZ- Civ. No. 18-17233 (KM) (JBC) ORTIZ, EDUARDO RIVAS

FERNANDEZ, JUAN GERENA, IVAN BURGOS-TORRES, EFRAIN OPINION HERNANDEZ-ADORNO AND MUGUEL MILLET-MORALES, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF ALL OTHERS SIMILARLY SITUATED,

Plaintiffs,

v.

LOUIS BERGER GROUP (DOMESTIC), INC., KENNETT CONSULTING, LLC, KALLBERG INDUSTRIES, LLC, BLUESOURCE, LLC, AUTOMATED CONTROLS AND POWER LLC/ACP LLC, H.P. SERVICES, CORP., ABLE INNOVATIONS INC. d/b/a HELSEL’S AUTOMOTIVE, SUNCOAST RESOURCES, INC., LMD AND ASSC., LLC, AND DK&J ENTERPRISES, INC.,

Defendants.

KEVIN MCNULTY, U.S.D.J.: On March 11, 2021, this Court issued an opinion and order (DE 321; DE 322) granting motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction by defendants LMD and Assc., LLC (“LMD”) (DE 252), H.P. Services, Corp. (“HP”) (DE 290), Kallberg Industries, LLC (“Kallberg”) (DE 250), and Bluesource, LLC (“Bluesource”) (DE 244.) I additionally granted plaintiffs’ motion, in which they consented to transfer their claims against Able Innovations, Inc. (“Able”.) (DE 322.) At that time, I directed the parties to assert their positions as to whether the Court should opt to dismiss such claims or transfer them to districts where personal jurisdiction can be asserted. (DE 322 at 2.) I then issued an order requesting that plaintiffs submit a proposed plan for severing and transferring their claims, to clarify which claims and parties were involved. (DE 334.) Plaintiffs have done so, by means of a chart, in a format dictated by the court. (DE 335.) I informed the defendants that failure to propose a transferee district as an alternative to dismissal would be deemed a waiver of any objection to the transferee district chosen by the court. (DE 334.) Most defendants have responded by requesting that I dismiss plaintiffs’ claims. (DE 328; DE 329; DE 331; DE 332.) Defendant HP has proposed in the alternative that the claims against HP be transferred to the District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. (DE 336.) Defendant Kallberg has proposed in the alternative a transfer to the Southern District of Florida. (DE 338.) Defendant Bluesource consents to a transfer to the Middle District of North Carolina, Durham Division, and does not seek dismissal.1 Plaintiffs, for their part, request separate transfers of each case to various districts. (DE 330). As explained below, I will transfer each case to an appropriate district, adhering to the preferences of plaintiffs, who after all, in the event of dismissal, could refile in any appropriate district of their choice. I. Legal Standards A. Transfer Although I have concluded that I lack jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ claims against many of the defendants, I possess the power to transfer the cases to a different court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1631. To do so, however, I must make two findings. First, I must determine that the proposed transferee court is one “in which the action or appeal could have been brought at the time it was filed.” Id. A claim “could have been brought” in any court that has (1) subject matter jurisdiction, (2) personal jurisdiction, and (3) venue. Am. Fin. Res., Inc.

1 That consent is contained in a letter, dated March 31, 2021, received in chambers but not yet filed on the docket. v. Smouse, 2018 WL 6839570 at *5 (D.N.J. Dec. 31, 2018). Second, I must conclude that transfer, as opposed to dismissal, would be “in the interest of justice.” 28 U.S.C. § 1631. Subject matter jurisdiction will exist in any federal district court to which I might transfer these claims. Plaintiffs bring their claims pursuant to a federal statute, the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), so there would be federal question jurisdiction. 28 U.S.C. § 1331; Growth Horizons, Inc. v. Delaware Cty., 983 F.2d 1277, 1281 (3d Cir. 1993) (“A district court has federal question jurisdiction in any case where a plaintiff with standing makes a non-frivolous allegation that he or she is entitled to relief because the defendant’s conduct violated a federal statute.”). Any court would also have supplemental jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ wage claims under Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands law, because those claims share a “common nucleus of operative fact” with the FLSA claims. 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a) (district courts have supplemental jurisdiction over claims “so related to claims in the action within such original jurisdiction that they form part of the same case or controversy under Article III of the United States Constitution”); Del Valle v. OfficeMax N. Am, Inc., 2015 WL 222582 at *12 (D.V.I. Jan. 14, 2015) (Virgin Islands Fair Labor Standards Act claims have same elements as FLSA claims); Perez-Maspons v. Stewart Title P.R., Inc., 208 F. Supp. 3d 401, 424 (D.P.R. 2016) (same for claims under Puerto Rican Law § 379). As for personal jurisdiction, there are two kinds: general and specific. Specific jurisdiction relies on a corporate defendant’s forum-related activities that give rise to the plaintiffs’ claims, while general jurisdiction applies where the defendant corporation’s contacts with the forum are sufficient to render it “at home” in the forum state. Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia, S.A. v. Hall, 466 U.S. 408, 414 & n.8 (1984). For a corporate defendant, the main bases for general jurisdiction are (1) the corporation’s place of incorporation; and (2) its principal place of business. Daimler AG v. Bauman, 571 U.S. 117, 137 (2014). For specific jurisdiction, courts ask (1) whether the defendant purposefully directed its activities at the forum; (2) whether the litigation “arises out of or relates to” at least one of those contacts; and (3) whether the exercise of jurisdiction otherwise comports with traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. O’Connor v. Sandy Lane Hotel Co., Ltd., 496 F.3d 312, 317 (3d Cir. 2007). To determine whether venue in any particular district court is proper, courts look to 28 U.S.C. § 1391, which provides as follows: (b) Venue in general. 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 the 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 an action. The defendants here are corporate entities. “[A]n entity with the capacity to sue and be sued in its common name under applicable law, whether or not incorporated, shall be deemed to reside, if a defendant, in any judicial district in which such defendant is subject to the court’s personal jurisdiction.” Id. at 1391(c)(2).

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OJEDA V. LOUIS BERGER GROUP (DOMESTIC), INC., (D.N.J. 2021).

OJEDA V. LOUIS BERGER GROUP (DOMESTIC), INC. (OJEDA V. LOUIS BERGER GROUP (DOMESTIC), INC.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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