Pramer S.C.A. v. Abaplus International Corp.

76 A.D.2d 89, 907 N.Y.S.2d 154
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJune 10, 2010
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 76 A.D.2d 89 (Pramer S.C.A. v. Abaplus International Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pramer S.C.A. v. Abaplus International Corp., 76 A.D.2d 89, 907 N.Y.S.2d 154 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

Acosta, J.

In this appeal we are called on to revisit New York’s long-arm jurisdiction statute and to determine whether a plaintiff can plead a cause of action for unjust enrichment when it has adequately pleaded that an alleged bribery induced a fraudulent agreement. We modify the order of Supreme Court to the extent of reinstating the claims against defendant Abaplus sounding in fraud and unjust enrichment.

Plaintiff, which provides television services to cable and satellite distributors primarily in Spain and Latin America, has its principal place of business in Argentina. Abaplus, which offers programming for television services such as those provided by plaintiff, is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, and maintains offices and places of business in Miami, Buenos Aires, and Montevideo, Uruguay. Defendant Vargas Distribution (VDI), which was dissolved in August 2006, was a Panamanian corporation, also with offices and its principal place of business in Montevideo. Defendant Arturo Vargas, who owned VDI as well as Abaplus, is a citizen of Uruguay.

On January 29, 2001, plaintiff entered into an agreement with VDI whereby the latter would supply cable programming [92]*92to plaintiff for the South American market for the years 2001 through 2003. That agreement is not presently litigated, although plaintiff argues that it was linked with a 2002 replacement contract with Abaplus in a manner that demonstrates an ongoing bribery scheme carried out by Abaplus’s principal (Vargas) and plaintiffs former CEO, Claudio Bevilacqua.

On December 16, 2002, plaintiff and Abaplus entered into an agreement replacing the VDI agreement. This agreement is the basis of the Supreme Court ruling and the present appeal. Plaintiff alleged in its complaint that Abaplus was actually part of the Vargas programming sales group, so Vargas remained the party in interest. Plaintiff further alleged that VDI provided the programming until December 31, 2002, which Abaplus continued thereafter, so in plaintiffs view, the entities are obviously related.

The 2002 agreement is written in Spanish; there is no allegation that it was entered into in New York. The parties agreed, however, to submit to the jurisdiction of New. York courts to resolve any disputes arising under the agreement, and that New York law would govern any litigation.

Plaintiff alleged that Vargas and the corporate defendants engaged in a fraudulent scheme involving plaintiffs CEO whereby defendants bribed Bevilacqua to commit plaintiff to paying inflated prices for “inferior programming,” a scheme that was continued under the 2002 agreement. Additionally, Abaplus was alleged to have breached the 2002 agreement by failing to provide plaintiff with the promised programing per year, and also tried to supply plaintiff programming to which Abaplus did not own the distribution rights.

After it terminated Bevilacqua’s employment on January 14, 2004, plaintiff continued an investigation that had been ongoing with respect to certain of Bevilacqua’s activities during his employment. In 2006, plaintiff discovered that its contractual relationships with entities controlled by Vargas, including the present one, which had been negotiated by Bevilacqua and Vargas, had resulted from a kickback scheme.

Specifically, starting in January 2001 (i.e., during the term of the VDI contract), Bevilacqua committed plaintiff to pay for programming at highly inflated prices, and kickbacks were paid into personal bank accounts controlled by Bevilacqua. Bevilacqua utilized a Citibank account in New York, which he had opened in his niece’s name but to which he retained signatory rights, to accept the kickbacks. The niece used that account [93]*93while she resided in Bevilacqua’s New York apartment, but stopped doing so when she left New York and returned to Argentina in early 2001.

According to plaintiff, it wired $300,000 to VDI’s account at Dresdner Bank Lateinamerika AG, pursuant to the agreement, on July 25, 2001. Plaintiffs investigation uncovered that three weeks later, VDI wired $150,000 from that same account to Bevilacqua’s niece’s Citibank account in New York. On November 13, 2001, plaintiff wired $100,733.11 to VDI’s account at Northern Trust International, which then was credited to a Merrill Lynch account. The next day, VDI wired $50,000 to the Citibank account.

Plaintiff claimed that Bevilacqua maintained total control over negotiations and executed both agreements without involving any of plaintiffs other corporate officers, and that defendants failed to disclose to plaintiff or its shareholders that Bevilacqua had been disloyal to it and had accepted payments to his personal benefit in exchange for binding plaintiff to a commercially unreasonable agreement, and that defendants were part of the fraudulent scheme.

Plaintiff asserted five causes of action against the corporate defendants and Vargas personally: common-law fraud, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing (against only Abaplus), unjust enrichment, breach of contract (against only Abaplus) and declaratory judgement (against only Abaplus).

Motions were made by Abaplus and Vargas in November 2007, and by VDI in January 2008, to dismiss the complaint for lack of jurisdiction and, alternatively, for failure to state a cause of action.

They averred that Vargas, a foreign citizen, transacted no business in New York, as manifested by the absence of any purposeful activity in New York bearing a substantial relationship with the transaction underlying the dispute. They further argued that Vargas did not commit a tort within New York State, or a tort outside of New York causing injury in New York. With respect to the fraud claim, defendants argued the alleged wire transfers were made by VDI and not Abaplus, and took place prior to when Abaplus signed the agreement with plaintiff.

The Special Referee’s report, dated August 15, 2008, concluded that neither VDI nor Vargas individually had any contacts with New York that would provide a basis for New York long-arm jurisdiction. The report concluded that just as [94]*94mailing documents or funds to New York does not rise to the level of activity contemplated as a basis for personal jurisdiction, so too, merely wiring funds into a bank account in New York fails to provide a basis for New York jurisdiction. Nor was there a basis for jurisdiction predicated on tortious conduct on the theory that Bevilacqua’s niece, when she resided in New York, was a conspirator, since there was no allegation that she knew of let alone intentionally participated in any scheme involving kickbacks that funded the Citibank account. Moreover, since defendants did not own or control that bank account, payments into the account did not invoke New York jurisdiction.

With respect to the tort and contract theories asserted in the complaint, the report concluded that allegedly improper wire transfers underlying the fraud claim were made by VDI and not Abaplus, and took place a year before Abaplus entered the subject agreement, and the complaint thus failed to state a cause of action against Abaplus. The report also noted that the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing is not an independent claim and was encompassed within the breach of contract (and fraud) claims, which also precluded the unjust enrichment claim against Abaplus. In March 2009, Supreme Court adopted the Special Referee’s findings and recommendations.

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Bluebook (online)
76 A.D.2d 89, 907 N.Y.S.2d 154, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pramer-sca-v-abaplus-international-corp-nyappdiv-2010.