Morrow Ni LLP is pleased to announce the dismissal of all claims against its client in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
The lawsuit arose from a transaction involving two Chinese companies. The Plaintiff, a Chinese investment partnership, alleged that our client made fraudulent and negligent misrepresentations that induced it to enter a transaction to acquire a Chinese public company for several hundred million dollars. Because the allegations had already been subject to arbitration in China, Morrow Ni removed the action from California state court to federal court under the Federal Arbitration Act and successfully opposed the Plaintiff’s attempt to remand to state court.
Morrow Ni then filed two motions asserting multiple alternative and independent grounds for dismissal: the first sought dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction and under the doctrine of forum non conveniens, and to compel arbitration; the second sought dismissal for failure to state any claim for fraud or negligent misrepresentation.
The Court, barely a week after Morrow Ni’s reply in support of its jurisdictional motion to dismiss, agreed with the first of our many alternative bases for dismissal, ruling that the Plaintiff had not established the necessary jurisdictional facts. Because the claims did not relate to our client’s California contacts, the Plaintiff’s asserted basis for jurisdiction required evidence that our client intended to remain in California indefinitely. After Morrow Ni extensively briefed the difference between temporary “residency” in California and “domicile,” the Court found the Plaintiff’s reliance on our client’s earlier declaration that he “resided” in California, filed in a different state court action by different counsel, insufficient and dismissed the claims.
The Morrow Ni team included attorneys Angus Ni and Jing He, and law clerk Lydia Chan.