August 18, 2020
McGivney, Kluger, Clark & Intoccia’s Emily Weisslitz recently obtained a dismissal of a fraud action brought against the firm’s client, a professional organization, by a physician member of that organization. The member physician had been certified by the defendant professional organization for several years, including for more than a decade following his retirement from the active practice of medicine.Nevertheless, the plaintiff was able to obtain recertification, with the distinction of being designated as retired and non-practicing, without actively testing in his field. Each application for recertification that the plaintiff submitted from 2007 onwards contained a venue and jurisdiction provision, which explicitly required any dispute between the parties to be adjudicated in Dallas County, Texas.
In 2019, the plaintiff filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of New Jersey, which was subsequently removed to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. The plaintiff contended that the conduct of the professional organization had violated New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act, and had deprived him of certain employment opportunities. MKCI filed a motion to dismiss the action on the grounds of forum non conveniens, and failure to state a cause of action. After evaluating the written submissions to the parties, and the federal common law regarding forum non conveniens, the court ultimately dismissed the action entirely under the forum non conveniens doctrine.
Congratulations to Emily Weisslitz on the well fought victory.