Samantha M. Marrelli

Gregg Tatarka (Partner-White Plains, NY) ​Suna Lee (Of Counsel-Madison, NJ) and Samantha Marrelli (Associate-White Plains, NY) prevailed on a motion to dismiss in Bergen County Superior Court, New Jersey, on behalf of Wilson Elser’s global consumer electronics company client. In this product liability case, the plaintiff, a North Carolina corporation, filed a lawsuit in New Jersey against our client and a national lease-to-own retailer. The plaintiff alleged that its insureds, Missouri residents, sustained damage to their Missouri property from a 2024 fire caused by an allegedly defective product​ supplied by our client and the codefendant retailer.

Although the alleged incident, property damage, insureds, and all fact witnesses – including those involved in the fire investigation and subsequent inspection and repair – were located in Missouri, the plaintiff filed suit in New Jersey, relying primarily on the state being our client’s principal place of business. However, the plaintiff’s causes of action were based in Missouri case law. In lieu of filing an answer, Suna and Samantha moved to dismiss under forum non conveniens, demonstrating that New Jersey had no meaningful connection to the dispute and that Missouri was the appropriate forum.

In their reply to the plaintiff and codefendant’s opposition to the motion, which proved paramount to winning the case by distinguishing between the facts and the claimed case law, Suna and Samantha underscored that the plaintiff is a North Carolina corporation, the plaintiff’s insureds are Missouri residents, and Wilson Elser’s client is a New York corporation with a principal place of business in New Jersey. Additionally, they emphasized the absence of any reported decision, permitting a non-resident plaintiff to pursue out-of-state claims under that state's law, surviving a forum non conveniens challenge.

The court agreed and dismissed the action with prejudice, sparing our client from litigating a Missouri-based loss in an improper forum.

Rosario Vignali (Senior Counsel-White Plains) and Samantha Marrelli (Associate-White Plains, NY) prevailed on a motion to dismiss in the Supreme Court of New York, New York County, on behalf of a global consumer electronics company client. The plaintiff in this case sought declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as compensatory damages, asserting claims for defamation, "negligent misidentification", and intentional infliction of emotional distress arising from an incident at a store. The plaintiff alleged that a security supervisor asked him to leave the premises based on a purported prior incident, and that a store employee falsely reported to 911 and responding NYPD officers that his conduct warranted removal. The court held that: 1) the defamation claim was insufficiently pleaded because the complaint failed to contain the alleged defamatory words or statements; 2) “negligent misidentification” is not a valid claim under New York State law; and 3) the plaintiff failed to plead extreme and outrageous conduct, intent, or causation to support the emotional distress claims. The court’s opinion borrowed language from Russ and Samantha’s motion to dismiss briefings verbatim, and because the pleading defects could not be cured, it dismissed the complaint against our client in its entirety.