Cockrum v. Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.

• Decision Date: 03 July 2018
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 17–1370 (ESH)
• Citation: 319 F.Supp.3d 158
• Parties: Roy COCKRUM; Scott Comer; and Eric Schoenberg, Plaintiffs, v. DONALD J. TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT, INC.; and Roger Stone, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

319 F.Supp.3d 158

Roy COCKRUM; Scott Comer; and Eric Schoenberg, Plaintiffs,

v.DONALD J. TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT, INC.; and Roger Stone, Defendants.

Civil Action No. 17–1370 (ESH)

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Signed July 3, 2018

Anne Harden Tindall, Justin G. Florence, Protect Democracy Project, Inc., Washington, DC, Barbara J. Chisholm, Pro Hac Vice, Danielle E. Leonard, Pro Hac Vice, Stephen P. Berzon, Pro Hac Vice, Altshuler Berzon LLP, Steven A. Hirsch, Pro Hac Vice, Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP, San Franisco, CA, Ian M. Bassin, United to Protect Democracy, New York, NY, Richard Primus, The University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, MI, Benjamin Leon Berwick, Protect Democracy Project, Cambridge, MA, for Plaintiffs.

Jeffrey Baltruzak, Pro Hac Vice, Jones Day, Pittsburgh, PA, Michael Anthony Carvin, Vivek Suri, Jones Day, L. Peter Farkas, Halloran Farkas & Kittila LLP, Washington, DC, Grant J. Smith, Pro Hac Vice, Strategysmith, PA, Robert C. Buschel, Pro Hac Vice, Buschel Gibbons, PA, Fort Lauderdale, FL, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ELLEN SEGAL HUVELLE, United States District JudgeBefore the Court are defendants' motions to dismiss and plaintiffs' motion for jurisdictional discovery. Plaintiffs are two Democratic National Committee ("DNC") donors (Cockrum and Schoenberg) and a former DNC employee (Comer). Defendants are Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. ("the Trump Campaign"), and Roger Stone, who was employed by the Trump Campaign until November 9, 2015, and allegedly continued thereafter to advise the Trump Campaign informally. Plaintiffs assert that defendants engaged in a conspiracy with unidentified Russian agents and WikiLeaks to publish hacked emails. They bring two tort claims under D.C. law, one alleging a conspiracy to violate plaintiffs' privacy rights by publicly disclosing private facts and the other alleging a conspiracy to subject plaintiffs to intentional infliction of emotional distress. They also bring a federal claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3), alleging a conspiracy to violate plaintiffs' right to give support or advocacy to their chosen political candidate. (Pls.' Am. Compl., ECF No. 17, ("Compl.") ¶¶ 25–26.)¹

For the reasons stated below, the Court concludes that it lacks personal jurisdiction over defendants and, alternatively, that Washington D.C. is not the proper venue for plaintiffs' suit. The Court will grant defendants' motions to dismiss, deny plaintiffs' motion, and dismiss plaintiffs' suit without prejudice.² Given this ruling, the Court does not address defendants' arguments that the complaint fails to allege sufficient facts to sustain a claim for tortious civil conspiracies or a conspiracy under 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3).³ Although the Court will explain the distinction between personal jurisdiction and the merits in detail below, it bears emphasizing that this Court's ruling is not based on a finding that there was no collusion between defendants and Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

BACKGROUND

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

A. Plaintiffs

Plaintiffs are two donors to the DNC and one former DNC employee. (Compl. ¶¶ 2–5, 32–34.) Plaintiff Roy Cockrum is a domiciliary of Tennessee who donated to the DNC and multiple candidates for public office in 2016. (Id. ¶¶ 3, 32.) Plaintiff Eric Schoenberg is a domiciliary of New Jersey who also contributed to the DNC in the 2016 election cycle. (Id. ¶¶ 4, 33.) Plaintiff Scott Comer is a domiciliary of Maryland and worked as the DNC Finance Office's Chief of Staff from April 2015 to October 2016, and as the DNC's LGBT Finance Chair from June 2016 to October 2016. (Id. ¶¶ 5, 34.)

B. Hack of the DNC's Email Systems

Plaintiffs allege that

[o]n one or more occasions before the summer of 2016, computer hackers working on behalf of the Russian government hacked into the email systems of the DNC in the District of Columbia and obtained voluminous amounts of data, including emails and other documents sent to and from thousands of individuals. Some of those individuals were staff members of the DNC; some were donors; and some were other supporters, members of the media, or other private citizens.

(Compl. ¶ 7.) The Russian hackers allegedly had access to DNC accounts "from July 2015 until at least mid-June 2016." (Id. ¶ 86.) The voluminous material that the hackers obtained included thousands of Comer's emails; the social security numbers, dates of birth, home address, phone number, and banking relationships of Schoenberg and his wife; and the social security number, date of birth, address, and phone number of Cockrum. (Id. ¶ 8.)

C. Conspiracies with Russian Agents

Plaintiffs allege that Russian agents gained access to "DNC networks, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (‘DCCC’) networks, and the personal email accounts of Democratic party officials and political figures" (Compl. ¶ 86), and did so "as part of a deliberate campaign to interfere in the U.S. election and tilt its outcome in favor of Donald Trump." (Id. ¶ 9; see also id. ¶¶ 83–85.) Plaintiffs attribute the hack to Russian agents and do not allege that defendants were involved in the hack. (Id. ¶¶ 86–87.) Importantly, plaintiffs' claims concern only the dissemination of emails hacked from the DNC and published by WikiLeaks on July 22, 2016. (Id. ¶¶ 16, 42.) Plaintiffs do not seek to impose liability on defendants for the publication of emails from the DCCC or John Podesta, Chairman of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.⁴

Plaintiffs allege, on information and belief, that Russia "typically consults domestic political actors who act as Russia's partners to decide which extracted information to publish, how to time the release of the stolen information, and how to disseminate it in a way that would maximize the political impact." (Id. ¶ 10.) As relevant to defendants, plaintiffs allege that

[a]gents of the Trump Campaign, acting on behalf of the Campaign, met with—and were otherwise in contact with—Russian officials or their agents on numerous occasions during the spring and summer of 2016. On at least one occasion, senior Trump Campaign officials met with a Kremlin-connected lawyer after being informed in an email that the meeting concerned information gathered as part of a Russian government effort to aid the Trump Campaign.

(Id. ¶ 12; see also id. ¶ 79.) This meeting took place on June 9, 2016, at Trump Tower in New York. (Id. ¶ 98.) At this meeting,

Mr. Trump Jr., Mr. Kushner, and Mr. Manafort met with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer who was described in emails as a "Russian government attorney who is flying over from Moscow." According to reports, Mr. Trump Jr. agreed to attend this meeting after being promised damaging material about his father's opponent. The Trump Campaign participants in the meeting expected that the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, would produce such material. Mr. Trump Jr. attended the meeting after receiving an email indicating that the material was part of a Russian government effort to aid the Trump Campaign. That email (released on July 11, 2017 on Mr. Trump Jr.'s Twitter account) stated, "This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump." Rather than refuse to be part of an effort by Russia to interfere in the election through the release of Russian-obtained information, Mr. Trump Jr. expressed enthusiasm for the idea in a responsive email, in which he stated: "If it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer." According to reports, the formatting of the email chain suggests that it was forwarded to Mr. Manafort and Mr. Kushner before the meeting, meaning that they went to the meeting fully aware that it was part of Russian efforts to interfere with the election. Mr. Trump Jr. acknowledged in a tweet issued on July 10, 2017 that he took the "meeting to hear info about" Mr. Trump's opponent. Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian–American lobbyist with suspected ties to Russian intelligence and the Kremlin who has previously been accused of involvement with computer hacking schemes, also attended the June 9 meeting. According to his account of the meeting, Ms. Veselnitskaya produced documents that she claimed would show illegal payments to the DNC.

(Id. ¶ 129.) By June 9, 2016, Russian agents already had access to the emails that concerned plaintiffs. (See id. ¶ 130.) Although plaintiffs provide a detailed account about what happened at the June 9th meeting, there is no allegation that DNC emails were discussed. Besides the June 9th meeting at Trump Tower in New York, plaintiffs largely rely on conclusory allegations, based on information and belief, that defendants entered into an agreement with agents of Russia and WikiLeaks "to have information stolen from the DNC publicly disseminated in a strategic way that would benefit the campaign to elect Mr. Trump as President" (id. ¶ 13), and in return, defendants promised Russia that Mr. Trump would institute a more favorable policy toward Russia after assuming the presidency. (Id. ¶¶ 14–15; see also id. ¶ 138–59.) Plaintiffs also cite evidence of long-standing financial and personal relationships between agents of the Trump Campaign and Russia as background evidence to support an inference that there was a foundation on which both parties could build a conspiratorial relationship. (Id. ¶¶ 102–118.)

1. Meetings with Russian Agents in Spring and Summer 2016

Plaintiffs allege, on information and belief, that Russian agents met with the Trump Campaign and its agents in Cleveland, D.C., New York, London, and Moscow to collaborate on publication of the hacked emails. (See Compl. ¶¶ 88, 161.) Plaintiffs also allege, on information and belief, that the Trump Campaign exchanged at least 18 undisclosed phone calls and emails with Russian agents between April and November 2016. (Id. ¶ 92; see also id. ¶¶ 93–101, 129, 135–37.)⁵

Plaintiffs ask the Court to infer that certain interactions could have been related to...