Reiss v. Societe Centrale du Groupe des Assurances Nationales

246 F. Supp. 2d 273, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1396, 2002 WL 31971278
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 30, 2003
DocketNo. 98 CIV. 8302(VM)
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 246 F. Supp. 2d 273 (Reiss v. Societe Centrale du Groupe des Assurances Nationales) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reiss v. Societe Centrale du Groupe des Assurances Nationales, 246 F. Supp. 2d 273, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1396, 2002 WL 31971278 (S.D.N.Y. 2003).

Opinion

[275]*275 DECISION AND ORDER

MARRERO, District Judge.

Plaintiff Brad M. Reiss (“Reiss”) filed this action in 1998 to recover a “finder’s fee” allegedly owed to him by defendants Societe Céntrale du Groupe des Assurances Nationales (“Societe”), GAN S.A., Union pour le Financement D’lmmeubles de Societe (“UIS”), and Union Industrielle de Credit (“UIC”). In earlier proceedings on this matter, GAN S.A. and Societe (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Defendants”) moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction under the New York State long-arm statute, N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 302, and Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(2), and for failure to state a claim pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), which was granted by another court in this District, Reiss v. Societe Centrale du Groupe Des Assurances Nationales, 78 F.Supp.2d 147 (S.D.N.Y.1999) (“Reiss I”), but was vacated and remanded by the Second Circuit to this Court, to which the case was later reassigned, Reiss v. Societe Centrale Du Groupe Des Assurances Nationales, 235 F.3d 738, 747-48 (2d Cir.2000) (“Reiss II”). Defendants have renewed their motion to dismiss the complaint, in this instance under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1602 — 1611, and Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for lack of personal and subject matter jurisdiction. For the reasons set forth below, an evidentiary hearing is hereby ordered to resolve the factual issues in dispute concerning whether this Court has subject matter jurisdiction over Defendants.

I. BACKGROUND1

This action concerns Reiss’s claim that he is entitled to a fee, pursuant to an oral agreement, for having successfully interested General Electric Capital Corporation (“GECC”) in acquiring UIS and UIC. Reiss claims that he entered into the oral agreement with Alain Juliard (“Juliard”), the Chairperson of UIS, to solicit investment in Groupe Percier, a conglomerate of real estate companies, including UIS, which were majority owned by Societe and managed by Juliard, as well as UIC, in exchange for a commission of one percent of the value of the transaction. In his Amended Complaint, Reiss pleads causes of action in breach of contract and quantum meruit. In 1992, the year that the alleged oral contract was first formed, GAN S.A. was a wholly owned subsidiary of Societe, and GAN S.A. wholly owned UIC and 94.47 percent of UIS. In 1997, prior to the sale of UIC and UIS to the GECC, GAN S.A.’s shares of UIC were transferred to Societe.

Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(2) for lack of personal jurisdiction under the New York state long-arm statute, N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 302, and Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim, on the ground that Reiss did not establish that Defendants had authorized Reiss to act as their agent. The court granted Defendants’ motion. See Reiss I, 78 F.Supp.2d at 147 (S.D.N.Y.1999). Although given leave to replead, Reiss instead appealed the court’s ruling. There[276]*276after, the docket sheet shows that on January 27, 2000, a Stipulation and Order dismissing the action as against UIS and UIC was “So Ordered” by the court.

On appeal, the Second Circuit vacated the dismissal, remanded for further proceedings consistent with its decision, and instructed the parties to engage in discovery on the issue of subject matter jurisdiction under the FSIA. See Reiss II, 235 F.3d at 747-748.2 On remand, the case was assigned to this Court.

The factual background of this litigation has been discussed at length by the Second Circuit in Reiss II, 235 F.3d at 739-743; see also Reiss I, 78 F.Supp.2d at 149-152. Given the extensive attention the factual recitation of the case has received, the Court will not repeat what has already been said. However, the Court will describe what has happened from the time the case was remanded, and will repeat key factual information for purposes of clarification and guidance throughout.

As directed by the Second Circuit, Reiss has engaged in further discovery addressing FSIA jurisdiction. Reiss has taken the deposition of Juliard and Mr. Phillipe Rosio (“Rosio”), Chief Financial Officer of UIS.3 However, Guy de Chavanne (“de Chavanne”), the Director General of GAN S.A. and Societe, who the Second Circuit suggested would be a helpful witness in determining subject matter jurisdiction, Reiss II, 235 F.3d at 747-748, could not be located by Reiss. (See GAN S.A. Mem. at 11.)

The issue to be determined by this Court has been clarified and narrowed by the Second Circuit:

The question here is whether Reiss can demonstrate a significant nexus between his engagement by Societe and/or GAN S.A. as a marketing agent in the United States and his action to recover a finder’s fee for the deal that culminated in the sale of UIC and UIS by Societe to GECC ... To find a significant nexus between Societe’s and/or GAN S.A.’s commercial activity in this country in its dealings with Reiss and Reiss’ cause of action for a finder’s fee requires a determination that Juliard had actual or apparent authority to act on behalf of So-ciete and/or GAN S.A.

Reiss II, 235 F.3d at 747-748. In other words, the question to be resolved is whether Juliard validly retained Reiss to act on behalf of Defendants.

Defendants argue that Juliard was not an agent of GAN S.A. or Societe and that in no way did his position as Chairperson of UIS include the authority to engage Reiss on their behalf. Reiss argues the opposite, that Juliard and Rosio were agents of the Defendants and that Juliard did have the proper authority to engage Reiss, or that Defendants, through their actions after Reiss’s engagement, ratified Juliard’s engagement of Reiss.

II. DISCUSSION

A. STANDARD OF REVIEW

On appeal from the district court decision, the Second Circuit determined that [277]*277the jurisdictional question with regard to the Defendants is not whether there is personal jurisdiction within the meaning of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules, but whether there is subject matter jurisdiction with the meaning of the FSIA. As the Second Circuit explained, “ ‘[T]he FSIA provides the sole basis for obtaining jurisdiction over a foreign state in federal court....”’ Reiss II, 235 F.3d at 746 (quoting Amerada Hess, 488 U.S. at 439, 109 S.Ct. 683).

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Bluebook (online)
246 F. Supp. 2d 273, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1396, 2002 WL 31971278, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reiss-v-societe-centrale-du-groupe-des-assurances-nationales-nysd-2003.