Opinion
January 5, 1981
In an action to recover sales commissions, defendants appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County, dated March 7, 1980, which, after a hearing, denied their motion to dismiss plaintiff's complaint, pursuant to CPLR 3211 (subd [a], par 8). Order affirmed, with costs, for the reasons set forth in the opinion of Mr. Justice Underwood at Trial Term. Lazer, J.P., Gibbons and Gulotta, JJ., concur.
The mere solicitation of business in New York by a foreign corporation is not sufficient to constitute doing business in this State (Miller v. Surf Props., 4 N.Y.2d 475; Carbone v. Fort Erie Jockey Club, 47 A.D.2d 337; Delagi v. Volkswagenwerk AG of Wolfsburg, Germany, 29 N.Y.2d 426; Irgang v. Pelton Crane Co., 42 Misc.2d 70). The fact that the corporate defendant is a foreign sales agency, whose sole business is the solicitation for products manufactured by a foreign furniture corporation, does not mandate a contrary result. The acts conducted by the corporate defendant in New York amounted to mere solicitation of business and the services performed were essentially mechanical tasks, incidental to solicitation. The fact that substantial sales were derived from the solicitation does not make a foreign corporation amenable to suit in this jurisdiction (see Delagi v. Volkswagenwerk AG of Wolfsburg, Germany, supra).