Western Investment Total Return Fund Ltd. et al

SUPREME COURT CASES

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State: Massachusetts

Court: Massachusetts District Court

Docket No: 1:2009cv11275

Case Date: 01/26/2011

Specialty: ) Civil Action No.

Preview:Western Investment Total Return Fund Ltd. v Robert P Bremner

Doc. 47

United States District Court District of Massachusetts ________________________________ ) WESTERN INVESTMENT TOTAL RETURN ) FUND LTD., ) Plaintiff, ) ) Civil Action No. v. ) 09-11275-NMG ) ROBERT P. BREMNER, JACK B. ) EVANS, WILLIAM C. HUNTER, DAVID ) J. KUNDERT, WILLIAM J. ) SCHNEIDER, JUDITH M. STOCKDALE, ) CAROL E. STONE, TERENCE J. TOTH, ) and JOHN P. AMBOIAN, ) Defendants. ) ________________________________ )

MEMORANDUM & ORDER GORTON, J. The defendants in this case are the trustees of four funds that are organized as Massachusetts business trusts. Plaintiff,

Western Investment Total Return Fund Ltd. ("WITRL"), is a holder of shares of those funds. Plaintiff alleges that the defendants

breached their fiduciary duties to plaintiff when they merged the funds into other funds of which the defendants were also trustees or directors. I. Background In September, 2009, the defendants moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, improper venue and failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. On August 30, 2010,

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United States Magistrate Judge Judith Gail Dein issued a report and recommendation ("the R&R") on the Defendants' motion to dismiss. Magistrate Judge Dein recommended that the Defendants'

motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction be allowed because the Defendants' status as trustees of Massachusetts business trusts and their business contacts with Massachusetts are insufficient to establish personal jurisdiction over them in Massachusetts. Magistrate Judge Dein also recommended that additional briefing be ordered on whether this action should be dismissed or transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois which is the district in which the funds are headquartered and several of the trustees reside. objection to the R&R. WITRL filed an

In an Order entered September 10, 2010,

this Court agreed with Magistrate Judge Dein's recommendation that the case be dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction but invited additional briefing on the issue of whether the case should be dismissed or transferred to the Northern District of Illinois. In accordance with that order, the defendants filed a

memorandum arguing that the case should be dismissed, not transferred. The plaintiff responded by contending that the case The Court will treat that response as

should be transferred.

plaintiff's motion to transfer.

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II.

Analysis A. The Court's Discretionary Power to Transfer

The Court will allow the plaintiff's motion and transfer the action to the Northern District of Illinois. U.S.C.

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