Supreme Court of New York, New York County, December 2, 2021
The defendant, Jenkins Bros, moved to dismiss the plaintiffs’ complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction. Specifically, Jenkins argued that it is not incorporated in New York, does not have its headquarters in New York, and does not maintain its principal place of business in New York. The plaintiff opposed the motion, and filed a cross-motion seeking jurisdictional discovery.
The plaintiff argued that the deposition transcript of Jenkins’ corporate representative, David Boisvert, demonstrated that Jenkins was subject to personal jurisdiction, that is, Boisvert testified that Jenkins maintained an executive office in New York and specifically testified that there were distributors in New York State through which Jenkins Bros sold asbestos-containing valves.
As such, the court found that the plaintiff had provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate that jurisdictional discovery was needed. The court granted the plaintiff’s cross-motion and denied the defendant Jenkins Bros’ motion to dismiss without prejudice to renew at the conclusion of discovery.