Court Dismisses Contract Claim For Lack Of Jurisdiction Where Claim Lacked A “Nexus” To New York Despite The Defendant Contracting To Supply PPE To New York City

Posted: June 9, 2025 / Written by: Jeffrey M. Eilender, Thomas A. Kissane, Samuel L. Butt, Joshua Wurtzel, Channing J. Turner / Categories Jurisdiction, Motion to Dismiss

Court Dismisses Contract Claim For Lack Of Jurisdiction Where Claim Lacked A “Nexus” To New York Despite The Defendant Contracting To Supply PPE To New York City

On May 14, 2025, Justice Joel M. Cohen granted a motion to dismiss an action brought by a plaintiff who contracted to assist the defendant company with securing PPE manufactured in China that was later resold to New York City. In David Zeng v. HH Fairchild Holdings, LLC, et al., Index No. 651864/2024, the plaintiff sued for breach of contract, but the Court ruled that it lacked long-arm jurisdiction over the defendant, despite the defendant’s sale of PPE to New York City, because that sale lacked a sufficient nexus with the plaintiff’s cause of action. The Court explained:

Under CPLR 302(a)(1), “long-arm jurisdiction over a nondomiciliary exists where a defendant transacted business within the state, and the cause of action arose from that transaction.” . . . . “It is a ‘single act statute’ and proof of one transaction in New York is sufficient to invoke jurisdiction, even though the defendant never enters New York, so long as the defendant’s activities here were purposeful and there is a substantial relationship between the transaction and the claim asserted.” . . . Here, Plaintiff argues that HH LLC transacted business in New York . . . by contracting to supply ten million surgical gowns to the City of New York. Even if this one transaction is sufficient to show HH LLC transacted business in New York . . . the necessary New York nexus is missing.

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