Case Notes

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a tenant against its landlord after it concluded that the lower court did not abuse its discretion by finding the case had already been filed in another jurisdiction. Jiangman Kinwai Furniture Decoration Co. Ltd. v. International Market Centers Inc., 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 25195 (9th Cir., 2017).

Jiangman Kinwai Furniture Decoration (Kinwai) leased space for a showroom in North Carolina from IHFC Properties (IHFC). IHFC later compelled Kinwai to move its showroom space to another location, prompting Kinwai to sue its landlord for breach of the parties' lease agreement in a North Carolina district court. While the case was still pending, Kinwai learned that defendant IHFC had other business affiliates and moved to amend the complaint to include them as defendants. The North Carolina district court denied that motion after concluding that the affiliates Kinwai wanted to add to the case had not committed any of the alleged torts nor engaged in activities that would warrant piercing the corporate veil to hold them accountable for any torts that may have been committed by IHFC.