Opinion ID: 763568
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Motion to Dismiss in the District Court

Text: 6 The motion to dismiss by Navitas in the district court was accompanied by an affidavit from the company's President, Nubuo Arita, stating that Navitas is a corporation existing under the laws of Japan with its principal place of business in Japan; that Navitas is not licensed or registered to do business in New York, nor has it ever directly transacted or solicited business in New York; and that Navitas has never provided any services nor entered into any contract in New York. 7 Arita's affidavit states that, with respect to the printing press at issue, Navitas had an oral agreement with Kurz-Hastings to manufacture the model of printing press at issue but had no specific knowledge of what would become of the subject press machine after it was sold to Kurz-Hastings in Pennsylvania, beyond the general knowledge that Kurz Hastings would resell it somewhere in Pennsylvania or one of the other 49 states in the United States. 8 In opposition to the motion to dismiss, Kurz-Hastings submitted the affidavit of its Vice President of Sales, Joseph D. McNamara. The McNamara affidavit states that on April 22, 1976, Kurz-Hastings entered into a contract with Navitas's corporate predecessor, Tahei Industries Co., Ltd., under which Tahei granted Kurz-Hastings the exclusive right to sell and promote Tahei's products in North America; and that in January 1979, Kurz-Hastings sold the machine in question to Forbes. Attached to the McNamara affidavit was a copy of the exclusive sales agreement. In addition to specifying that Kurz-Hastings would have the exclusive right to sell Tahei's products in any country other than 17 specified Asian countries, the agreement provided for the exchange of information for the purposes of developing or producing new machines and for either party to notify the other three months in advance of revising prices. 9 Pursuant to the agreement, between 1976 and 1981, Kurz-Hastings sold 168 hot stamping presses manufactured by Tahei; however, the record does not specify where these machines (other than the machine at issue) were sold. Additional machines were sold after 1981, but the record contains no further information as to those sales. 10 In a thorough opinion, Magistrate Judge Heckman denied Navitas's motion to dismiss, holding that Navitas was subject to personal jurisdiction in New York pursuant to the state's long-arm statute, N.Y.C.P.L.R. § 302(a)(3)(ii), and that this exercise of jurisdiction was consistent with the requirements of due process. See Kernan v. Kurz-Hastings, Inc., 997 F.Supp. 367, 374, 379 (W.D.N.Y.1998). This interlocutory appeal followed.