## Facts

- Ginsey Industries, Inc. (Ginsey) was incorporated in Pennsylvania and had its principal place of business in Bellmawr, New Jersey.
- I.T.K. Plastics, Inc. (I.T.K.) was incorporated in Massachusetts and had its principal place of business in Salem, Massachusetts.
- Ginsey purchased plastic products from I.T.K. for commercial use through two purchase orders: one placed in August 1981 and another in November 1981.
- Ginsey did not pay for the August 1981 shipment, asserting the plastic was defective or otherwise unacceptable.
- I.T.K. filed suit against Ginsey in federal court in Massachusetts seeking payment for the August 1981 shipment.
- Ginsey paid for the November 1981 shipment, but later contended that shipment was defective and caused consequential damages connected to Ginsey’s business.
- Ginsey filed this separate action in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania seeking consequential damages for the allegedly defective plastic.
- I.T.K. moved to dismiss Ginsey’s Pennsylvania action for lack of personal jurisdiction, or alternatively to transfer the case to Massachusetts so both disputes could be addressed in one court.
- Ginsey opposed dismissal and argued that, if a transfer were ordered, the proper transferee forum was the District of New Jersey; it was undisputed that I.T.K. had sufficient contacts with New Jersey for personal jurisdiction there.

## Issues

1. Whether the Eastern District of Pennsylvania could exercise personal jurisdiction over I.T.K. consistent with Pennsylvania’s long-arm statute and due process where I.T.K. sold and shipped plastic to Ginsey, a Pennsylvania corporation, in transactions giving rise to the claims.
2. If personal jurisdiction existed, whether the action should be transferred under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), and if so, whether Massachusetts (where the first-filed payment action was pending) or New Jersey (where Ginsey’s principal place of business was located and where I.T.K. conceded jurisdiction) was the better forum.

## Decision

- The court denied I.T.K.’s motion to dismiss, holding that Pennsylvania could exercise personal jurisdiction over I.T.K. based on I.T.K.’s transaction-related contacts with Ginsey and the forum.
- The court granted a transfer under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), but transferred the case to the District of New Jersey rather than the District of Massachusetts.

## Legal Principles

- When a defendant challenges personal jurisdiction, the plaintiff must show facts supporting jurisdiction; where jurisdiction is based on specific jurisdiction, the claim must arise out of or relate to the defendant’s forum-directed conduct.
- A nonresident seller that enters a commercial relationship with a forum corporation and ships goods in connection with that relationship may be subject to specific jurisdiction in the forum for disputes arising from those transactions, consistent with due process.
- Under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), a federal court may transfer a civil action to another district where it might have been brought when convenience and the interests of justice favor the transferee forum, even if jurisdiction and venue are proper in the original forum.
- A plaintiff’s initial choice of forum is a factor in the § 1404(a) analysis, but it may carry less weight when the plaintiff’s operations and the center of the parties’ dealings are located elsewhere.
- The presence of related litigation in another district is relevant to transfer analysis, but it does not require transfer to that district when other considerations (including the parties’ locations and an available, suitable alternative forum) favor a different transferee court.

## Conclusion

The Eastern District of Pennsylvania held it could exercise personal jurisdiction over I.T.K. because the dispute arose from I.T.K.’s sales and shipments of plastic to Ginsey, a Pennsylvania corporation, but the court nonetheless transferred the case under § 1404(a) to the District of New Jersey—where Ginsey’s principal place of business was located and where I.T.K. was subject to jurisdiction—rather than to Massachusetts, despite the pending related Massachusetts action.


Ginsey Industries, Inc. v. I.T.K. Plastics, Inc., 545 F. Supp. 78 (1982)