Opinion
15254, 654404/13
05-28-2015
John R. COELHO, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. GRAFE AUCTION CO., et al., Defendants–Appellants.
Weinstein, Kaplan & Cohen, P.C., Garden City (Robert N. Cohen of counsel), for appellants. Law Offices of Steven D. Isser, New York (Steven D. Isser of counsel), for respondent.
Weinstein, Kaplan & Cohen, P.C., Garden City (Robert N. Cohen of counsel), for appellants.
Law Offices of Steven D. Isser, New York (Steven D. Isser of counsel), for respondent.
ANDRIAS, J.P., MOSKOWITZ, DeGRASSE, GISCHE, KAPNICK, JJ.
Opinion Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Shirley Werner Kornreich, J.), entered on or about July 28, 2014, which denied defendants' motion to dismiss pursuant to CPLR 327, unanimously affirmed, with costs.
Contrary to defendants' contention, this is not “one of the relatively uncommon [cases] in which dismissal on forum non conveniens grounds is required as a matter of law” (Mashreqbank PSC v. Ahmed Hamad Al Gosaibi & Bros. Co., 23 N.Y.3d 129, 138, 989 N.Y.S.2d 458, 12 N.E.3d 456 [2014] ). Rather, it is a standard case where “[t]he application of ... forum non conveniens is a matter of discretion to be exercised by the trial court and the Appellate Division” (Islamic Republic of Iran v. Pahlavi, 62 N.Y.2d 474, 478, 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] ). We agree with the motion court's denial of defendants' motion to dismiss. While some of the factors relevant to a determination of a motion to dismiss for forum non conveniens weigh in defendants' favor, the balance is not so strongly in their favor as to disturb plaintiff's choice of forum (see Elmaliach v. Bank of China Ltd., 110 A.D.3d 192, 208, 971 N.Y.S.2d 504 [1st Dept.2013] ). “[T]his is a multijurisdictional action with no single convenient forum amenable to all the parties” (Lawati v. Montague Morgan Slade Ltd., 102 A.D.3d 427, 429, 961 N.Y.S.2d 5 [1st Dept. 2013] ).