## Facts

- Henry Roeland “Professor Longhair” Byrd recorded master tapes in the early 1970s and later participated in a recording session arranged by Albert Grossman in Woodstock, New York.
- After the Woodstock session was deemed unsatisfactory, the tapes were sent to Grossman in New York allegedly “as demonstration tapes only,” without intent to transfer ownership.
- The tapes entered and remained in the physical custody of Bearsville (Grossman’s business) in Woodstock from the 1970s onward.
- Bearsville licensed recordings from the tapes, including a 1986 license leading to a 1987 release and a further license associated with a 1991 release.
- Byrd’s representatives and successors repeatedly sought return of the tapes; the Estate did not relinquish possession.
- In 1995, Songbyrd, Inc. (successor to Byrd-related intellectual property interests) sued the Estate in Louisiana seeking damages and a declaration of rights in the tapes.
- After appellate proceedings on timeliness under Louisiana law, the Louisiana federal court determined it lacked personal jurisdiction over the Estate and transferred the case to the Northern District of New York.
- The Northern District of New York granted summary judgment to the Estate, holding the claims time-barred under New York’s statute of limitations.

## Issues

1. Whether the propriety of an inter-circuit transfer order may be reviewed by the transferee circuit on appeal from final judgment.
2. Whether the Louisiana federal court had personal jurisdiction over the Estate consistent with due process.
3. Under New York law, when claims for conversion/replevin (and related relief) concerning the master tapes accrued for statute-of-limitations purposes.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit held the transferee circuit may review the transfer order on appeal from a final judgment in the circumstances presented.
- The court agreed Louisiana lacked personal jurisdiction over the Estate and held the transfer to the Northern District of New York was proper.
- The court affirmed summary judgment for the Estate, holding the action time-barred under New York law.

## Legal Principles

- A transferee court of appeals may review an inter-circuit transfer order on appeal from final judgment, and review is not limited to mandamus proceedings in the transferor circuit in all cases.
- Personal jurisdiction requires constitutionally sufficient contacts showing purposeful affiliation with the forum; the forum’s connection to the plaintiff or to antecedent events, without defendant-directed conduct toward the forum, is insufficient.
- In New York, conversion and replevin claims generally accrue at the time of the wrongful taking or when possession becomes wrongful; a demand-and-refusal accrual rule is not broadly applied to postpone accrual where the defendant’s possession is itself wrongful.
- New York’s three-year limitations period for conversion/replevin bars claims filed more than three years after accrual, including claims seeking declaratory relief that are substantively grounded in those causes of action.

## Conclusion

The Second Circuit affirmed judgment for the Estate because Louisiana courts lacked personal jurisdiction, the transfer to New York was proper, and New York’s three-year statute of limitations had expired long before the 1995 filing given the decades-long retention and commercial exploitation of the tapes in New York.


Songbyrd, Inc. v. Estate of Grossman, 206 F.3d 172 (2d Cir. 2000)