Westcode, Inc. v. Mitsubishi Electric Corp.

171 F. Supp. 3d 43, 2016 WL 1090580, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35003
District Court, N.D. New York·Decided March 18, 2016·No. 3:15-cv-1474·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM-DECISION AND ORDER

Mae A. D’Agostino, U.S. District Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Westcode, Inc. (“Plaintiff’) commenced this actiqn seeking a declaratory judgment pursuant to the Pennsylvania Declaratory Judgments Act, 42 Pa. C.S.A. § 7351 et seq., on May 5, 2015, in the Court of Common Pleas, Chester County, Pennsylvania. See Dkt. No. 1 at 12. Defendant Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (“Defendant”) removed the action to the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on May 27, 2015. See id. at 7. The case was transferred to this Court on December 11, 2015. See Dkt. Nos. 32, 33. Currently pending before the Court is Defendant’s motion to dismiss pursuant to Rules 12(b)(1) & 12(b)(6),1 which Plaintiff has opposed. See Dkt. Nos. 10,11.

II. BACKGROUND2

Plaintiff is a Pennsylvania corporation that manufactures and assembles heating, ventilation, and air conditioning compo[46] nents for use in rail cars. Dkt. No. 11 at 3. Defendant is a Japanese corporation that also designs and manufactures systems for rail cars. Id. In 1997, the parties entered into an agreement titled the License and Technical Assistance Agreement (“LTAA”), which gave Plaintiff access to Defendant’s designs. Id. at 3-4. The terms of the LTAA required Plaintiff to “pay a onetime upfront fee of $900,000.00 plus a royalty of 3% of the net sales price on finished produces] [Plaintiff] sold to customers.” Id. at 4. Thereafter, the parties entered into a Joint Venture Agreement (“JVA”), which “was effective for the term of the project known as the New York City Transit Au-thorty R142A Project” (the “R142A project”). Id. Under the JVA, the parties would split revenues generated by the sale of units for the R142A project, with approximately 47% to Plaintiff and 53% to Defendant. Id. At the termination of the JVA, the parties continued the economic terms stated therein for the R143, R160, and-PATH projects. Id. In 2008, Plaintiff fell behind on payments to Defendant for the R142A, R143, and R160 projects. Id. On November 13, 2008, the parties entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) to restructure the payment terms for said projects with the amount due of $14,869,967.06. Id. at 4-5.

On April 27, 2015, Defendant filed suit in this Court3 alleging that Plaintiff beached its obligation to pay approximately $10.8 million due under the MOU. See Dkt. No. 10 at 10. Thereafter, on May 5, 2015, Plaintiff commenced the instant action in the Court of Common Pleas in Chester County, Pennsylvania. See Dkt. No. 1 at 12. On May 27, 2015, Defendant removed the instant action to the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on the basis of diversity jurisdiction. See id. at 7. Defendant then filed the instant motion to dismiss on July 1, 2015 and subsequent motion to compel arbitration on September 9, 2015. See Dkt. Nos. 10, 21. Prior to reaching the merits of these motions, on December 8, 2015, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ordered the transfer of the action to this Court (the “December 8 Order”), pursuant to the first-filed doctrine and in connection with Defendant’s pending action filed in this Court. See Dkt. Nos. 32, 33.

In the instant action, Plaintiffs complaint poses four separate claims for relief. Each count seeks a declaration from the Court that Defendant is barred by the statute of limitations from bringing an action against Plaintiff for payments due under the above-listed agreements and projects. Count I addresses payments pursuant to the LTAA, Count II for payments pursuant to the JVA, Count III for payments due on the R143, R160, and PATH projects, and Count IV for payments pursuant to the MOU. Dkt. No. 1 at 16-19 ¶¶ 32^2.

III. DISCUSSION

Defendant’s motion to dismiss raises three separate arguments: (1) that the “firsb-filed” rule mandates dismissal or transfer of the action because Count IV is duplicative of a claim presented in its related case filed in this Court; (2) that the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to hear the case because the claims stated in Counts I, II, and III are not ripe for review; and (3) that the Court should exercise its discretion under the Declaratory Judgment Act to dismiss the complaint. See Dkt. No. 10 at 8-9.

[47] Defendant filed the instant motion prior to the December 8 Order transferring the action to this Court, thus, Defendant’s request for a transfer is denied as moot.

A. Standard of Review

As an initial matter, the Court notes that Second Circuit law applies in deciding Defendant’s motion to dismiss pursuant to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, notwithstanding that the motion was filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. See Smith v. Railworks Corp., No. 10 Civ. 3980, 2012 WL 752048, *5 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 6, 2012) (“Generally, ‘a transferee federal court must apply its own interpretation of federal law, not the construction of the transferring court’s circuit”) (citations and quotations omitted).

I. Rule 12(b)(1) Motion to Dismiss

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Westcode, Inc. v. Mitsubishi Electric Corp., 171 F. Supp. 3d 43, 2016 WL 1090580, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35003 (N.D.N.Y. 2016).

171 F. Supp. 3d 43 (Westcode, Inc. v. Mitsubishi Electric Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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