Donner v. Tams-Witmark Music Library, Inc.

• Decision Date: 03 December 1979
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 78-2895.
• Parties: Robert A. DONNER, Individually and t/a Radon Arts Management, Bankrupt; Larry H. Slass, Esquire, Trustee, and Robert A. Donner, Individually and t/a Radon Arts Management, Plaintiffs, v. TAMS-WITMARK MUSIC LIBRARY, INC., Louis H. Aborn, Chappell & Co., Inc., Robin Hood Dell Concerts, Inc., Frederic R. Mann and The Gershwin Estate by Ira Gershwin, Trustee, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

480 F. Supp. 1229

Robert A. DONNER, Individually and t/a Radon Arts Management, Bankrupt; Larry H. Slass, Esquire, Trustee, and Robert A. Donner, Individually and t/a Radon Arts Management, Plaintiffs, v. TAMS-WITMARK MUSIC LIBRARY, INC., Louis H. Aborn, Chappell & Co., Inc., Robin Hood Dell Concerts, Inc., Frederic R. Mann and The Gershwin Estate by Ira Gershwin, Trustee, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 78-2895.

United States District Court, E. D. Pennsylvania.

December 3, 1979.

John F. Hunt, Spector, Cohen, Hunt & Rosen, Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiffs.

James A. Drobile, Schnader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis, Philadelphia, Pa., for Tams-Witmark and Aborn.

OPINION AND ORDER

EDWARD R. BECKER, District Judge.

I. Preliminary Statement

Defendants Tams-Witmark Music Library, Inc. ("Tams-Witmark") and Louis H. Aborn ("Aborn") have moved for dismissal of the complaint as to them for lack of personal jurisdiction and for improper venue. The motion presents several interesting questions of "minimum contacts" analysis under the new Pennsylvania long-arm statute, 42 Pa.C.S. § 5321 et seq., and International Shoe v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945), the most significant of which is whether the allegedly tortious acts of the individual defendant Aborn, in his corporate capacity, constitute sufficient contacts with this forum to support jurisdiction over him as an individual.

Tams-Witmark is a New York corporation engaged in the business of licensing "dramatico-musical"¹ works nationwide in secondary markets, primarily stock and amateur companies. Its only place of business is in New York City. Aborn is the president of Tams-Witmark and has held that position since 1956. By a copyright license agreement dated March 31, 1976, Tams-Witmark granted to plaintiff Donner, doing business under the name of Radon Arts Management, the right to produce performances of the Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess. The agreement was negotiated by telephone and correspondence between Donner in Philadelphia and Aborn in New York City. It was signed by Donner in Pennsylvania, then was mailed to New York City where it was signed by Aborn for Tams-Witmark. Subsequently, the agreement was returned to Donner through the mail by a New York lawyer.

During the term of Donner's license, the Philadelphia Orchestra performed musical selections from Porgy and Bess. Plaintiffs claim that this performance infringed Donner's rights under the copyright license agreement. They allege that as a result of this infringing performance, Donner's production of Porgy and Bess closed at a substantial deficit, forcing him to declare bankruptcy. Plaintiffs here are both the bankrupt estate and Donner suing individually.

Plaintiffs allege that Tams-Witmark and Aborn committed acts of infringement by consenting to the Philadelphia Orchestra performance and permitting it to be held despite their knowledge of the impending infringement. They also assert claims against Tams-Witmark and Aborn for unfair competition, fraudulent misrepresentation, and breach of contract.

Tams-Witmark has no employee or representative located or stationed in Pennsylvania, has no office or post office address here, is not listed in any Pennsylvania telephone or other directory, maintains no bank account here, and pays no taxes to the Commonwealth or any of its subdivisions. However, it was developed by discovery taken in connection with these motions that Tams-Witmark has entered regularly into license agreements and other contracts for performances of musical and dramatic works with Pennsylvania residents or for performances to take place in Pennsylvania. During the years 1973 to 1976, these agreements numbered 300 to 400 per year. Tams-Witmark maintains four mailing lists for promotional materials; each list includes more than 1900 addresses in Pennsylvania.

Acting in his corporate capacity, Aborn negotiated and executed the agreement on which plaintiffs sue. He signed all correspondence with Donner pertaining to the license agreement and the allegedly infringing performance. Among the correspondence is a letter which plaintiffs claim was a misrepresentation inducing Donner to make royalty payments. In the same letter, Aborn stated that Tams-Witmark had communicated with defendant Chappell and Company, the alleged licensor of the Philadelphia Orchestra performance, and with Ira Gershwin in regard to the impending performance of musical selections by the Philadelphia Orchestra; that statement makes it clear that Aborn had personal notice of the allegedly infringing performance. However, none of Aborn's activities were undertaken in an individual capacity and it is conceded that Aborn's activities as an individual in a non-corporate capacity do not include contacts with Pennsylvania sufficient to establish jurisdiction. Plaintiffs contend, nevertheless, that the court has personal jurisdiction over Aborn because of his acts as president of Tams-Witmark and because of the rule of joint and several liability of a corporate officer for tortious conduct in which he personally participates.

Against this background, we turn to a discussion of the applicable law.

II. Discussion

The in personam jurisdiction of this court is coextensive with that of the Pennsylvania courts. Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(e). The relevant Pennsylvania statute provides that jurisdiction over all persons shall extend "to the fullest extent allowed under the Constitution of the United States and may be based on the most minimum contact with this Commonwealth allowed under the Constitution of the United States." 42 Pa. C.S. § 5322(b).² Accordingly, the court has personal jurisdiction over the defendants so long as the constitutional standard of "minimum contacts" is satisfied; we need not consider any other legal tests in order to find jurisdiction.

With respect to jurisdiction over the corporate defendant Tams-Witmark, our decision is controlled by two recent decisions of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In Empire Abrasive Equipment Corp. v. H.H. Watson, Inc., 567 F.2d 554, 557-58 (3d Cir. 1977), the court of appeals set out a two-part test for resolution of minimum-contacts problems, based on (1) the state's interest in adjudicating a dispute within its borders, and (2) the possible unfairness of compelling a party to litigate in a distinct forum.

In Empire, a Pennsylvania mail-order seller brought a diversity action against its Rhode Island buyer and the latter's Rhode Island bank. The court of appeals determined that the first part of the test was satisfied, both as to the buyer and as to the bank, by Pennsylvania's interest in its corporate resident seller of goods. Judge Gibbons explained that "Pennsylvania is the corporate residence of the plaintiff beneficiary of a letter of credit, and the letter of credit was issued in connection with the sale of goods by that Pennsylvania seller. These contacts establish some Pennsylvania sovereign interest." Id. at 558. With respect to the second part of the test, the court of appeals looked to the "expectations of the parties to the transaction." Id. Although the court found no sufficient expectations to support jurisdiction over the bank, it remanded for further discovery on matters related to jurisdiction over the buyer. While a single isolated mail-order transaction might not suffice to subject the buyer to Pennsylvania jurisdiction, the seller in Empire alleged that there were prior dealings between the parties; that the nature of the product ordered required the seller to enter into subcontracts with other vendors; and that the buyer initiated the negotiations. Id. at 558-59. The Third Circuit found these three factors relevant, and remanded for discovery on all.

In the present action, the first Empire test is satisfied: Pennsylvania has the same interest in a resident copyright licensee who produces musical performances as it does in a resident seller of industrial equipment. Application of the second test here is not entirely clear, but the facts which support jurisdiction here are analogous to the allegations which the Third Circuit found relevant in Empire. Tams-Witmark has had prior dealings with other Pennsylvania residents, and engaged in a protracted course of negotiations with Donner: eight letters signed by Aborn were sent to the plaintiff in 1976. Most significantly, the nature of the "product" licensed required the Pennsylvania licensee to enter into subcontracts with theaters, actors, and others. While Empire is not dispositive, it suggests strongly that jurisdiction exists here.

In Edy Clover Productions, Inc. v. National Broadcasting Company, Inc., 572 F.2d 119 (3d Cir. 1978), the Third Circuit applied the Empire tests to find jurisdiction in a suit for copyright infringement. Plaintiffs in Edy Clover claimed that their copyright was infringed by the broadcast from New York to New Jersey of a television show program which had been produced in California. The California producer challenged the New Jersey federal court's in personam jurisdiction. The court of appeals found, first, that the state had an interest in providing a forum because of its interest in protecting its residents from interstate transmissions which infringe their copyrights. Addressing the second part of the Empire test, the court of appeals held:

It is also clear that a producer of a television program, who knows that the production will be transmitted interstate, can anticipate that infringement may result at places remote from the place of production. There is, therefore, no unfairness in requiring the producer to answer such a charge in the state in which it arises.

572 F.2d at 120-21. It is equally clear that a licensor of dramatico-musical works, who knows that the work will be produced in Pennsylvania, and who covenants not otherwise to license the play for performance in metropolitan Philadelphia, can anticipate that infringement may...