Motion to Dismiss Granted in Favor of Premium Value-Added Packaging Company

A former supplier of premium value-added packaging for an international beverage company sued the beverage company and our client, who has also sourced and delivered premium value-added packaging to the beverage company for years, for a variety of business torts in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The plaintiff alleged that the beverage company maliciously interfered with plaintiff’s relations with its suppliers, misappropriated trade secrets, fraudulently induced plaintiff to take certain actions, and conspired with our client.  Plaintiff alleged that our client also misappropriated trade secrets and conspired with the beverage company to interfere with business relations and misappropriate trade secrets. Both defendants vigorously deny plaintiff’s allegations and maintain that no tort was committed.

Our client, who sources the premium value-added packaging in Asia and delivers it to the beverage manufacturer in Canada, and who had no dealings with either the Plaintiff or the manufacturer in Florida, moved to dismiss the claims against it for lack of personal jurisdiction and on the merits for failure to state a claim.  The Federal Court granted the motion dismissing all claims, ruling that exercising jurisdiction over our client in Florida would violate the Due Process Clause of the Constitution.  Although that ruling made it unnecessary for the Court to rule on the merits, the Court stated in the Order that our client’s arguments to dismiss the claims against it for failure to state a claim were “compelling.” Larry Burkhalter, Gary Toman and Matt Kramer of WWHGD successfully represented the defendant premium value-added packaging company.