Queens resident had no long-arm jurisdiction in New York over a Virginia hotel for slip and fall, notwithstanding plaintiff’s having made the hotel reservation via the internet. 

A Queens, New York resident commenced suit in Queens County Supreme Court alleging that he was injured in a shower while he was a guest at a hotel in Virginia known as Homewood Suites by Hilton.  Plaintiff sued the management company Brantley Enterprises, Inc. (which did business under the assumed name of Brantley Hotel Group) and the hotel “Homewood Suites by Hilton”.  Plaintiff had made the hotel reservation via the internet, and premised jurisdiction over defendants on that fact.  The motion term judge granted defendants’ pre-answer motion to dismiss, and the Appellate Division Second Department affirmed.

In support of defendants’ motion to dismiss for lack of long-arm jurisdiction, defendants asserted that

• Defendant Brantley Enterprises, Inc., doing business under the name of co-defendant Brantley Hotel Group, was the manager of co-defendant hotel “Homewood Suites by Hilton”.
• The management company Brantley Enterprises, Inc., was a Virginia corporation with its principal office in Virginia; it conducted no business and maintained no offices outside Virginia; and it was not affiliated with any New York hotels.
• The subject hotel was owned by nonparty Suite Venture Associates, LLC, which likewise was a Virginia limited liability company with its principal office in Virginia and which likewise conducted no business and maintained no offices outside Virginia and was not affiliated with any New York hotels.

Plaintiff countered that

• There were other, separate hotels operating in New York under the licensed or franchised name Homewood Suites by Hilton, and
• Defendants were involved in maintaining or operating a website that permitted consumers in New York to make reservations at the subject hotel in Virginia.

The Second Department held that plaintiff failed to demonstrate that defendants purposefully availed themselves of the privilege of conducting business in New York.  Plaintiff also failed to demonstrate any substantial relationship between the causes of action asserted in the complaint and any alleged transaction of business through the website that plaintiff used to make his reservation.  Plaintiff also failed to make a prima facie showing that personal jurisdiction existed based on ownership, use, or possession of any real property within New York State.

Lastly, plaintiff failed to make enough of a showing of jurisdiction to stay defendants’ motion to permit discovery on the issue of jurisdiction.  Because plaintiff alleged no facts that would support jurisdiction, plaintiff failed to show how further discovery might lead to evidence showing that personal jurisdiction existed.

NB: Plaintiff apparently did not sue the franchisor of “Homewood Suites by Hilton”.

Leuthner v Homewood Suites by Hilton, 2017 NY Slip Op 05212, 2nd Dept 6-28-17.