Opinion
02-09-2016
RAKUTEN BANK, LTD., formerly known as Ebank Corporation, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. ROYAL BANK OF CANADA, et al., Defendants–Respondents.
Lewis Baach PLLC, New York (Bruce R. Grace of counsel), for appellant. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, New York (Michael J. Dell of counsel), for respondents.
Lewis Baach PLLC, New York (Bruce R. Grace of counsel), for appellant.
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, New York (Michael J. Dell of counsel), for respondents.
FRIEDMAN, J.P., ACOSTA, ANDRIAS, SAXE, FEINMAN, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Saliann Scarpulla, J.), entered on or about January 26, 2015, which, among other things, granted defendants' motion to dismiss the complaint on the basis of forum non conveniens, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
In the complaint, plaintiff alleges that defendants fraudulently induced it to purchase certain notes by misrepresenting the credit quality of the notes and their underlying collateral. The motion court weighed the relevant factors and providently exercised its discretion in determining that the action lacks a substantial New York nexus (see CPLR 327[a] ; Islamic Republic of Iran v. Pahlavi, 62 N.Y.2d 474, 479, 478 N.Y.S.2d 597, 467 N.E.2d 245 [1984], cert. denied 469 U.S. 1108, 105 S.Ct. 783, 83 L.Ed.2d 778 [1985] ; Matter of Alla v. American Univ. of Antigua, Coll. of Medicine, 106 A.D.3d 570, 570, 965 N.Y.S.2d 469 [1st Dept.2013] ). Plaintiff's allegation that the marketing and design of the notes was done, in part, by employees of defendant RBC Capital, the only New York-based defendant, is not enough to overcome the factors weighing in favor of dismissal, including the fact that all aspects of the actual sale of the notes occurred outside New York (see Hanwha Life Ins. v. UBS AG, 127 A.D.3d 618, 619, 8 N.Y.S.3d 180 [1st Dept.2015] [New York forum was inconvenient where, among other things, the transaction at issue occurred outside New York], lv. denied 26 N.Y.3d 912, 2015 WL 7376060 [2015] ; cf. Hong Leong Fin., Ltd. (Singapore ) v. Morgan Stanley, 44 Misc.3d 1231[A], 2014 N.Y. Slip Op. 51396[U], *5–6, 2014 WL 4650238 [Sup.Ct., N.Y. County 2014], affd. 131 A.D.3d 418, 13 N.Y.S.3d 832 [1st Dept.2015] [New York was a convenient forum where, among other things, most of the allegedly fraudulent activity was conducted in New York by only New York-based defendants] ).