Pelican Equity has filed a
First Amended Complaint [PDF], and Darl McBride has finally managed to file a motion to dismiss it with respect just to himself, based on a claim that New York State lacks jurisdiction, so it's a
Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction [PDF]. He tried before, but they filed in paper format, and the court wouldn't accept that. Now, he's filed properly, and the motion dance begins. To understand what is happening, I need to explain jurisdiction and a bit about New York's long-arm statute.
It means pretty much what you'd think long-arm might mean in a context about jurisdiction. A court can only gain the authority to hear your claim or a claim about you if it has jurisdiction, meaning the authority to rule on it. This litigation is happening in New York; McBride is in Utah. How can he be sued in the Big Apple? Normally, if you live in Utah and I live in New York, it's mighty hard for me to sue you in New York. The only way would be via the long-arm statute, which allows a New York court to reach you with a long arm, and there are specifics about what makes that possible. It isn't always possible, and then you have to hire a Utah lawyer and sue in Utah.
You know how in EULAs they often say that you agree that any disputes will be handled in the vendor's state? They do that because they want you to suffer the annoyance and expense of going to their state instead of vice versa. But when there is no EULA, sometimes there are issues that a court has to decide, and this is one of them. The question is, can McBride be sued in New York?
Here, the plaintiff wants to sue him and some other defendants, some of them in New York, over an alleged conspiracy hatched and at least partially executed in New York, according to the complaint. McBride is claiming that Pelican can't sue him in New York State, since he says he has no connection to that state at all. Pelican claims he does, as I'll show you, but it also claims the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act provides supplemental jurisdiction.
Imagine if that's the simple version. Here we go with the details.
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