Amsellem v. HOST MARRIOTT CORPORATION

• Decision Date: 15 February 2001
• Citation: 721 N.Y.S.2d 318,280 A.D.2d 357
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division
• Parties: PERRY M. AMSELLEM et al., Respondents,<BR>v.<BR>HOST MARRIOTT CORPORATION et al., Appellants, et al., Defendant.

280 A.D.2d 357

721 N.Y.S.2d 318

PERRY M. AMSELLEM et al., Respondents,

v.HOST MARRIOTT CORPORATION et al., Appellants, et al., Defendant.

Decided February 15, 2001.

Concur — Nardelli, J.P., Tom, Andrias, Rubin and Buckley, JJ.

This is a personal injury action in which plaintiffs Perry M. Amsellem and Cynthia Smith seek recovery for injuries allegedly sustained as the result of drinking contaminated water while guests at the Marriott Castle Harbour Hotel (Castle Harbour), which is located in Tucker's Town, Bermuda. The building and land comprising Castle Harbour are owned by non-party Bermuda Properties Ltd., while the 402-room hotel is operated by defendant Marriott International Services, Ltd. (MLTD). There is no dispute that MLTD is a wholly owned subsidiary of defendant Marriott International, Inc. (Marriott).

Castle Harbour's water tanks and filtration systems are monitored by the Bermuda Ministry of Health (the Ministry) pursuant to Bermuda law. On February 13, 1998, the Ministry was summoned to Castle Harbour after a large number of guests reported nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Ministry officials subsequently advised MLTD personnel that there was nothing unusual in the stool and water samples that they had analyzed and that the outbreak was, they believed, the result of an airborne virus.

Plaintiffs maintain that on February 14, 1998, Smith became ill and that on the following day, Amsellem also became ill, but that the hotel staff claimed they were unaware of the cause of the problems. Plaintiffs contend that, as a result, they continued to drink and bathe in the hotel-supplied water which was later determined to contain unsafe levels of E-coli bacteria.

Defendants claim that in the 48-hour period following the first reported illnesses, hundreds of other people became ill after drinking the water at Castle Harbour and that on February 16, 1998, MLTD was informed by the Ministry that contrary to its earlier pronouncement, additional samples tested by the Ministry indicated that the water supply was contaminated. MLTD then shut down its in-house water supply and tapped into the public water system operated by the Bermudian government. Defendants state that it was later learned that a blockage had occurred at a distal point in the sewage system, creating a back-up and eventual overflow of sewage into the fresh water supply.

In July 1998, plaintiffs commenced the within action against Host Marriott Corporation (Host), Marriot and Liberty Travel, seeking compensatory and punitive damages based upon causes of action sounding in negligence, breach of warranty, and intentional conduct and/or gross negligence. In March 1999, defendants moved, pursuant to CPLR 3211 and 327, to dismiss this action on the grounds that: plaintiffs failed to join two necessary parties, MLTD and the Ministry; the court lacked jurisdiction over the two necessary parties; and this action should have been brought in Bermuda under the doctrine of forum non conveniens. Defendants maintained, inter alia, that Host and Marriott did not operate or exercise any control over Castle Harbour and that although MLTD is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marriott, Marriott is not its agent or representative.

In response, plaintiffs amended their complaint to join MLTD as a party defendant, and argued that a sufficient threshold basis existed to warrant discovery in order to ascertain whether MLTD is "doing business" in the State of New York, pursuant to CPLR 302, through the New York activities of Marriott. Plaintiffs also argued that the Ministry is not an indispensable party to this litigation and that dismissal of this action on forum non conveniens grounds was unwarranted.

The motion court, in a brief decision, denied defendants' motion to dismiss, with leave to renew within 60 days, after plaintiffs were afforded an opportunity to conduct discovery on the issue of whether MLTD was doing business in the State of New York. The motion court also transferred the matter to the Civil Court without addressing the issues of forum non conveniens and the Ministry as a necessary party.

Plaintiffs do not dispute that MLTD is a necessary party to this litigation but argue that additional discovery is necessary to determine if MLTD is doing business in New York State through its parent corporation, Marriott. Defendants, on the other hand, rely on the brief affidavits of Mark Conklin and Ed Trott, the General Manager and Resident Manager,...