KWMC Obtains Dismissal Due to Lack of Personal Jurisdiction

KWMC Partners, Gary Smith and Carol Kotsinis, were successful on a motion to dismiss, pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a)(8), and in defeating the plaintiff’s motion to extend time to serve the Complaint, which resulted in the dismissal of the plaintiff’s Complaint in its entirety.  The plaintiff claimed that the defendant was responsible for his alleged construction accident which resulted in severe injuries. The plaintiff purported to serve our client by handing the Summons and Complaint to a clerk working in the front-end at one of its places of business. We immediately advised the plaintiff’s counsel that service was improper, yet he did not timely and properly serve before the statute of limitations expired. In our motion to dismiss, we demonstrated that service was improper. The plaintiff then served the client via its agent for process after the statute expired. The Hon. Anne Swern, in Orders dated May 19, 2025 and December 18, 2025, respectively, found that the plaintiff did not meet his burden of showing proper service, and he failed to demonstrate “good cause” for delaying service, or that an extension to serve was “in the interests of justice.”