Claude v. Autobus Fleur De Lys, Inc.

• Decision Date: 01 November 2018
• Docket Number: 526135
• Parties: Jacinthe CLAUDE et al., Appellants, v. AUTOBUS FLEUR DE LYS, INC., et al., Respondents, et al., Defendants.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

166 A.D.3d 1120
87 N.Y.S.3d 670

Jacinthe CLAUDE et al., Appellants,
v.
AUTOBUS FLEUR DE LYS, INC., et al., Respondents, et al., Defendants.

526135

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York.

Calendar Date: September 13, 2018
Decided and Entered: November 1, 2018

87 N.Y.S.3d 671

Weller, Green, Toups & Terrell, LLP, Beaumont, Texas (Mitchell A. Toups of counsel) and Whatley Kallas, New York City (Joe R. Whatley Jr. of counsel) and Paul Webb, PC, Wharton, Texas (Vincent Lee Marable III admitted pro hac vice), for appellants.

Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP, New York City (Patrick L. Lawless of counsel), for respondents.

Before: Egan Jr., J.P., Clark, Mulvey, Aarons and Pritzker, JJ.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Pritzker, J.

Appeal from an order of the Supreme Court (Auffredou, J.), entered June 5, 2017 in Essex County, which granted certain defendants' motion to dismiss the complaint against them.

In July 2014, a motor coach bus carrying 56 individuals was traveling southbound on Interstate 87 in the Town of North Hudson, Essex County – heading from Quebec, Canada to New York City on a sightseeing expedition – when it struck a guardrail, careened down an embankment and rolled over, ultimately landing on its side. Numerous passengers were injured, and one teenager, Chelssy Mercier, died at the scene. In July 2016, Mercier's estate, as well as her family members, all of whom are Canadian residents, commenced this action against defendants, all Canadian residents or Canadian corporations, alleging negligence and negligent hiring and supervision. Plaintiffs alleged that the accident occurred because defendant Rejean Perron, the operator of the bus, fell asleep. Perron was an employee of defendant Autobus Fleur de Lys, Inc., which leased the bus from defendant 9282–9621 Quebec, Inc. Defendant George Morissette was the owner and president of Autobus Fleur and 9282–9621 Quebec. In December 2015, following joinder of issue, Autobus Fleur, 9282–9621 Quebec, Morissette and Perron (hereinafter collectively referred to as defendants) moved for, among other things, dismissal of the complaint pursuant to CPLR 327 on the ground of forum non conveniens. Supreme Court granted their motion, and plaintiffs appeal.

A court may stay or dismiss an action where it finds, in the "interest of substantial justice," that the action "should be heard in another forum" ( CPLR 327[a] ; see Islamic Republic of Iran v. Pahlavi, 62 N.Y.2d 474, 478–479, 478 N.Y.S.2d 597, 467 N.E.2d 245 [1984], cert denied 469 U.S. 1108, 105 S.Ct. 783, 83 L.Ed.2d 778 [1985] ; Gozzo v. First Am. Tit. Ins. Co., 75 A.D.3d 953, 954, 905 N.Y.S.2d 702 [2010] ). The application of this doctrine is discretionary and requires the balancing of several factors to ensure that a plaintiff's claims have "a substantial nexus with New York" ( Martin v. Mieth, 35 N.Y.2d 414, 418, 362 N.Y.S.2d 853, 321 N.E.2d 777 [1974] ; see Wild v. University of Pa., 115 A.D.3d 944, 945–946, 983 N.Y.S.2d 58 [2014] ; Islamic Republic of Iran v. Pahlavi, 62...