Opinion ID: 2645047
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: mosseri’s affidavit

Text: Mosseri claims that his affidavit means the district court clearly erred in its finding that he was involved with the “pendoza.com” website that was selling counterfeit goods into Florida and wherever the Internet goes. We disagree and explain why. We start with the allegations in Louis Vuitton’s complaint and then review what Mosseri’s affidavit said. Louis Vuitton’s complaint specifically alleged that Mosseri: (1) “conducts business throughout the United States, including within this Judicial District”; (2) engaged in the “sale of counterfeit and infringing Louis 21 Case: 12-12501 Date Filed: 12/02/2013 Page: 22 of 39 Vuitton branded products within this Judicial District through multiple fully interactive commercial websites”; (3) purposefully directed illegal activities “towards consumers in . . . Florida through the . . . sale of counterfeit Louis Vuitton branded goods into the State”; (4) was “selling and/or offering for sale counterfeit products, including at least handbags and wallets, using trademarks which are exact copies of the Louis Vuitton Marks”; and (5) was “actively . . . advertising, distributing, selling . . . substantial quantities” of these infringing goods in Florida and elsewhere. These allegations established a prima facie case of jurisdiction over Mosseri. See Posner v. Essex Ins. Co., 178 F.3d 1209, 1216 (11th Cir. 1999) (holding that the plaintiff “alleged facts, unrebutted by Salem, that established a prima facie case of jurisdiction over Salem”). To shift the burden back to the plaintiff, a defendant’s affidavit must contain “specific factual declarations within the affiant’s personal knowledge.” Id. at 1215. As noted earlier, Mosseri’s affidavit did not deny that counterfeit Louis Vuitton goods and products were being sold directly to Florida consumers through the “pendoza.com” website. Instead, Mosseri’s affidavit contains only a denial that he was not affiliated with the website. Given the extensive allegations in the complaint, it is questionable whether Mosseri’s conclusory denial shifted the burden back to the plaintiff at all. See id. (concluding that a nonresident defendant’s attempt to challenge a prima facie case of personal jurisdiction with 22 Case: 12-12501 Date Filed: 12/02/2013 Page: 23 of 39 “conclusory assertions of ultimate fact” is insufficient to shift to the plaintiff “the burden of producing evidence supporting jurisdiction”). In any event, for purposes of this appeal, we accept that Mosseri’s affidavit created a factual issue as to whether he was affiliated with the “pendoza.com” website (which was selling infringing goods into Florida). The problem for Mosseri is that the district court held an evidentiary hearing and found that Holmes had ordered through Mosseri’s website, had received in Florida, and had paid Mosseri’s company for the infringing billfold. The district court also found Mosseri was soliciting business through his website wherever the Internet goes, including in Florida and that his company was getting money for selling infringing goods. The documentary evidence and investigators’ testimony support those findings, and Mosseri has not shown the district court clearly erred in making them. The fact that the district court did not believe Mosseri’s affidavit is not surprising. In the first paragraph, Mosseri stated he was never served with process. The record established that Mosseri was personally served. Mosseri finally stopped denying this. In the third paragraph, Mosseri said he was not “affiliated” with the “pendoza.com” website. But Louis Vuitton’s evidence at the hearing demonstrated the contrary. Holmes paid JEM Marketing for the billfold ordered through the “pendoza.com” website, and Mosseri was the CEO of JEM Marketing. 23 Case: 12-12501 Date Filed: 12/02/2013 Page: 24 of 39 If Mosseri was not the entire moving force behind the “pendoza.com” website, he surely had the lead role. If Mosseri’s company, JEM Marketing, had even one other employee besides its CEO Mosseri, the record did not reflect it. In the second paragraph, Mosseri swore he lived in New York. That was true. Mosseri added only: “I do not conduct any business in Florida.” If this was meant as a statement that his “pendoza.com” website produced no sales to Florida, the statement was demonstrably false. The investigators’ affidavits, testimony, and subpoenaed records collectively revealed that the payee JEM Marketing and its CEO Mosseri were using the same telephone number ((917) 669-2544) and same address (2167 East 21st Street, Brooklyn, New York). As the district court found, the payee, JEM Marketing sent the billfold to Holmes in Florida, which he ordered through the “pendoza.com” website, and Mosseri controlled JEM Marketing. This evidence indicated the falsity of the statement that Mosseri did not conduct “any business in Florida.” That the district court did not credit the statements in Mosseri’s affidavit— that he was not affiliated with the websites and did not conduct business in Florida—was not clear error. Given that determination, we must now review whether the complaint’s unrebutted allegations and investigators’ testimony showed that Mosseri was subject to personal jurisdiction in Florida. We thus turn to Florida’s long-arm statute. 24 Case: 12-12501 Date Filed: 12/02/2013 Page: 25 of 39