Court: Supreme Court of New York County (NYCAL)

In this asbestos action, defendant Burnham Holdings Inc. moved to dismiss the complaint against it on personal jurisdiction grounds. Specifically, BHI asserted that it is a holding company that was incorporated in Delaware with a principal place of business in Pennsylvania. BHI further argued that as a holding company, it never placed any products in the stream of commerce and thus, has no ties to the state of New York.

In opposition, plaintiff argued that BHI is Burham LLC’s alter ego such that they should be treated as one entity for personal jurisdiction purposes. 

First, the court determined that BHI established, and that plaintiff did not contest, that BHI is not incorporated in New York, nor is its principal place of business in New York.  Next, the court determined that plaintiff failed to establish that Burnham LLC is an alter ego of BHI. Although BHOI submissions indicated that the entities Burnham LLC and BHI share some employees and that many of these employees own voting shares of Burnham LLC, “such submissions are insufficient to prove that Burnham LCC s an alter ego of the moving defendant such that this Court would have personal jurisdiction over BHI.”

Accordingly, the court granted BHI’s motion to dismiss the complaint against it.

Read the full decision here.