On January 10, 2017 a Order to Show Cause was filed involving a dispute between Stacey Lynn Brown As Administratrix Of The Estate Of Steven L. Hall, Deceased, and Ace Hardware, Ace Hardware Corporation, Air & Liquid Systems Corporation, As Successor By Merger To Buffalo Pumps, Inc., Alfa Laval, Inc., Allegheny Teledyne Incorporated, Individually And As Successor To Allegheny Technologies Incorporated And Farris Valves And Or Sprague Pumps, Amec Construction Management, Inc., American Biltrite, Inc., Individually And Successor To Amtico Floors, Amtrol, Inc., Individually And As Successor To Thrush Products, Inc., A.O. Smith Water Products, Armstrong International, Inc., Atwood & Morrill Co., Inc. D B A Weir Valves & Controls Usa Inc., Auburn Technology, Inc. F K A Alco Power, Inc., Aurora Pump Company, Bechtel Corporation, Blackmer Pump, Borgwarner Morse Tec Llc, Bw Ip International Co., Formerly Known As Borg Warner Industrial Products Inc., A Former Subsidiary Of And Successor To Borg Warner Corp. And Byron Jackson Pumps, Carrier Corporation, Cbs Corporation, A Delaware Corporation, F K A Viacom Inc, Successor By Merger To Cbs Corporation, A Pennsylvania Corporation, F K A Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Certain-Teed Corporation, Clark-Reliance Corporation, Individually And As Successor To Jerguson, Cleaver-Brooks Company F K A Aqua-Chem, Inc., Courter & Company, Inc., Crane Co., Individually And As Successor To Cochrane, Croll-Reynolds Engineering Company, Inc., Crosby Valve And Gage Company, Crosby Valve, Inc., Cytec Engineered Materials, Inc. F K A Fiberite Corporation And A K A Ici Composites, Inc., Cytec Industries Inc., Individually And As Successor To American Cyanamid Company, Dap, Inc. K N A La Mirada Products Co., Inc., Dean Pump Division, Dezurik, Inc., Durez Corporation, Duro Dyne Corporation, E.I. Team, Inc. F K A J.L. Murphy, Inc., Electrolux Home Products, Inc., Individually And As Successor To Tappan And Copes-Vulcan, Elliott Turbomachinery Co., Inc., Fairbanks Company, Flowserve Us, Inc., Solely As Successor To Rockwell Manufacturing Company, Edward Valves, Inc., Nordstrom Valves, Inc. And Edward Vogt Valve Company, Fmc Corporation, Individually And As Successor To Northern Pump Company, Coffin And Peerless Pump Company, Foster Wheeler, Llc, Gardner Denver, Inc., General Electric Company, Genuine Partscompany, George A. Fuller Company, Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Individually And As Successor To Bestwall Gypsum Company, Gg Of Florida, Inc., F K A Higbee, Inc., Goodall Rubber Co., Goulds Pumps, Inc., Greene, Tweed & Co., Llp, Individually And As Successor To Palmetto Packings, Grinnell Corporation, Henry Technologies, Inc., Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Inc. F K A Borden Chemical, Inc., Honeywell International, Inc., Individually And F K A Alliedsignal, Inc., And As Successor-In-Interest To The Bendix Corp., Howden Buffalo, Inc., Individually And As Successor-In-Interest To Fb Sturtevant, The Howden Buffalo Group And Buffalo Fan, Imo Industries, Inc. F K A Delaval, Inc., Individually And As Successor To Turbine Equipment Company, I.T.T. Industries, Inc., Individually And As Successor To Bell & Gossett, I.T.T. Industries, Inc., Individually And As Successor To Hoffman Specialty, Bell & Gossett, And Foster Engineering, Jenkins Bros., John Crane, Inc., Kaiser Gypsum Company, Inc., Koppers Company, Inc., Koppers Industries, Inc., Lighttolier Incorporated, Maremont Corporation, Individually And As Successor To Grizzly, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., Morse Diesel, Inc., Morse Diesel International, Inc., Napa Auto Parts A K A National Automotive Parts Association, Nash Engineering Company, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Individually And As Successor To George A. Fuller Company, Occidental Chemical Corporation, Individually And As Successor To Durez Corporation, Owens-Illinois, Inc., Patterson Pump Company, A Subsidiary Of The Gorman-Rupp Company And Individually And As Successor To C.H. Wheeler Manufacturing And Griscom Russell, Plastics Engineering Company, Individually And As Successor To Plenco, Pneumo Abex Corporation, Pneumo-Abex Llc, Individually And As Successor To Abex Corporation, A Delaware Corporation, Progress Lighting, Inc., Research-Cottrell, Inc. N K A Awt Air Company, Inc., Riley Power, Inc. F K A Babcock Borsig Power, Inc. And F K A Riley Stoker Corporation D B A Db Riley, Inc., Rogers Corporation, R.T Vanderbilt Company, Inc., Individually And As Successor To International Tale Co., International Pulp Co., And Governeur Tale Co., Inc., Sid Harvey Industries, Inc., Sid Harvey Supply, Inc., Spence Engineering Company, Inc., Spirax Sarco, Inc., Spx Cooling Technologies, Inc., Individually As Successor To Marley Cooling Technologies And Marley Cooling Towers, Superior Lidgerwood Mundy Corp., A K A Lidgerwood Manufacturing Co., Individually And As Successor To M.T. Davidson Co., Thomas O'Connor & Company, Inc., Currently Known As O'Connor Constructors, Inc., Thrush Co., Inc., Treadwell Corporation, Turner Construction Company, Tuthill Corporation, Individually And As Successor To Kinney Vacuum Pump Company, Kinney Pump Company And Murray Turbine, Tyco Flow Control, Inc., Individually And As Successor To Keystone And Grinnell Corporation, Tyco International, Union Carbide Corporation, Union Pumps, As A Textron Company, United Conveyor Corporation, Velan Valve Corp., Warren Pumps, Llc, Individually And As Successor To The Quimby Pump Company, William Powell Company, Wolff & Munier, Inc., York International Corporation, Individually And As Successor To Frick Company, Yuba Heat Transfer, A Division Of Connell Limited Partnership N K A Spx Heat Transfer Llc, Zurn Industries, Inc. A K A And Successor-In-Interest To Erie City Iron Works, for Torts - Asbestos in the District Court of New York County.
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FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 09/20/2019 03:34 PM INDEX NO. 190012/2017 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 589 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 09/20/2019 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF NEW YORK --------------------------------------------------------------X STACEY LYNN BROWN, as Administratrix : Index No.: 190012-17 of the Estate of STEVEN L. HALL, Deceased, : : Plaintiff, : : AFFIRMATION IN SUPPORT -against- : OF DEFENDANT PNEUMO ABEX LLC’S : MOTION TO DISMISS FOR LACK OF A.O. SMITH WATER PRODUCTS CO., et al., : PERSONAL JURISDICTION : Defendants. : --------------------------------------------------------------X ALFRED J. SARGENTE, an attorney duly admitted to practice law before the courts of the State of New York, affirms the following on penalty of perjury: 1. I am a partner with the law firm of Hawkins Parnell & Young, LLP, attorneys for defendant, Pneumo Abex LLC, successor in interest to Abex Corporation (hereinafter “Abex”), and am familiar with the facts and circumstances of this matter by virtue of my review of the file maintained by my office. I make this Affirmation in support of Abex’s motion to dismiss pursuant to CPLR § 3211(a)(8) based upon lack of personal jurisdiction. 2. Plaintiff’s decedent, Steven Leroy Hall, (hereinafter “Mr. Hall” or “Decedent”) commenced the instant action by filing a Summons and Verified Complaint on January 10, 2017. Thereafter, Plaintiff filed amended complaints on January 17, 2017, February 3, 2017, February 7, 2017, August 29, 2017, and November 1, 2018. (True and correct copies of the original Summons and Verified Complaint, and all amended Summonses and Complaints, are attached hereto as Exhibit “A”.) 1 of 3 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 09/20/2019 03:34 PM INDEX NO. 190012/2017 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 589 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 09/20/2019 3. On February 17, 2017, Abex filed its Answer to Complaint, Affirmative Defenses and Cross-Claims, which included an affirmative defense asserting that “There is no in personam jurisdiction over Abex in New York.” (A true and correct copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit “B”.) 4. On or about January 31, 2017, Plaintiff’s counsel served Plaintiff’s Responses to Defendants’ Fourth Amended Standard Set of Interrogatories and Request for Production of Documents/Chart A. (A true and correct copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit “C”.) 5. On February 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 21st and 22nd of 2017, Decedent testified at his discovery deposition. (True and correct copies of the transcripts of Decedent’s discovery deposition testimony are attached hereto as Exhibit “D”.) 6. On April 25, 2017, Decedent testified at his videotaped de bene esse deposition. (A true and correct copy of the transcript of Decedent’s de bene esse deposition testimony is attached hereto as Exhibit “E”.) 7. On October 7, 2004, Pneumo Abex LLC was formed as a Delaware limited liability company pursuant to the laws of the State of Delaware. (A true and correct copy of the Entity Details page from the Delaware Division of Corporations website dated 12/29/2017 is attached hereto as Exhibit “F”.) 8. On October 29, 2004 a Certificate of Merger was duly executed pursuant to which Pneumo Abex Corporation, a Delaware Corporation, merged into Pneumo Abex LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, organized under the laws of the State of Delaware. (A true and correct copy of the Certificate of Merger is attached hereto as part of Exhibit “G”.) 9. On December 6, 2004, the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware certified that the Certificate of Merger was received and filed in the Secretary of State’s office on 2 2 of 3 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 09/20/2019 03:34 PM INDEX NO. 190012/2017 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 589 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 09/20/2019 November 1, 2004. (A true and correct copy of the Secretary of State’s certification and authentication is attached hereto as Exhibit “H”.) 10. Pneumo Abex LLC’s principal place of business has been located in Spring, TX since 2012. (See Affidavit of Albert D. Indelicato at ¶ 16.) 11. The accompanying memorandum of law sets forth the legal arguments based upon lack of personal jurisdiction pursuant to § CPLR 3211(a)(8) as to why Plaintiff’s claims against Abex should be dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction. 12. No prior application to this or any other Court has been made for any of the relief sought herein. WHEREFORE, Abex respectfully requests that this Court enter an Order dismissing this action for lack of personal jurisdiction pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(8), and for such other and further relief as this Court deems just and proper. Dated: September 20, 2019 Respectfully Submitted, New York, New York HAWKINS PARNELL & YOUNG, LLP By: Alfred J. Sargente 600 Lexington Avenue, 8th Floor New York, NY 10022-7678 212.897.9655 Attorneys for Defendant Pneumo Abex LLC, successor in interest for Abex Corporation 3 3 of 3