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Property Keyed to Merrill
Songbyrd, Inc. v. Estate of Grossman
Facts
Around the 1970s, Henry Roeland Byrd, a musician,composed several master recordings of his performances. Byrd produced the recordings in a Louisiana studio. Later 1972, the recordings were transferred from a predecessor in interest to Bearsville Records, Inc. (“Bearsville”) in New York. In 1986, Bearsville licensed the recordings to Rounder Records Corporation (“Rounder”). Thereafter, in 1987, Rounderannounced an album. Additionally, in 1991, Rounder announced another album under a licensing agreement with Bearsville. At that time, Byrd’s representatives requested that Rounder return of the recordings several times. In 1995, Songbyrd, Inc. (“Plaintiff”) brought suit against Albert B. Grossman’s estate, doing business as Bearsville,in Louisiana state court, requesting damages and for the court to declare Plaintiff rights to the recordings. Bearsville removed the case to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, andmotioned to dismiss because the case was time barred and there was a lack of personal jurisdiction. Subsequently, Louisiana district court granted the motion to dismiss on the grounds that the case was time barred. Plaintiff appealed the district court’s decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The appellate court reversed the trial court’s order on the grounds that the claim was not time barred. On remand, the district court held that there was a lack of personal jurisdiction and transferred the case to the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York. Subsequently, the New York district court determined whether the statute of limitations for conversion ran at the time of conversion, as illustrated inSporn v. MCA Records, Inc.,448 N.E.2d 1324 (N.Y. 1983). Plaintiff alleged that the statute of limitations was triggered when a plaintiff demands the defendant to return property and the defendant refuses to return the property, as described inSolomon R. Guggenheim Foundation v. Lubell,569 N.E.2d 426 (N.Y. 1991). Bearsville motioned to dismiss the case.
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