In Adamowicz v. Besnainou , Laurent Adamowicz sued a French company -- Fauchon, Inc. -- and related corporations for breach of a loan agreement.
When the New York County Supreme Court dismissed Adamowicz's case on "lack of personal jurisdiction" and "forum non conveniens" grounds, he appealed to the Appellate Division, First Department.
The AD1 was of the view the defendants didn't have sufficient contacts with New York to subject them to jurisdiction nor was New York the proper forum for the case.
While several of the defendants' representatives made trips to New York, those visits were viewed as too infrequent and occasional to amount a presence in our state.
Although Adamowicz was a United States resident who interacted with the defendants, only Fauchon had a New York presence -- the rest were situated in France and elsewhere in Europe. (It also didn't help Adamowicz's position that there weren't any other U.S. witnesses, the loan agreement was written in French, executed and (allegedly) breached in France, and all relevant documentary evidence was located in that country.)
To download a copy of the Appellate Division's decision, please use this link: Adamowicz v. Besnainou