Owen v. The Artistic Gymnastics Fed'n of Russia
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STATE OF MAINE SUPERIOR COURT fr 1"1; c-: Sagadahoc, ss. -- S' /~ (-1 - 3 CHARLES ALAN OWEN Plaintiff v. Docket No. SAGSC-CV-11-007 THE ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS FEDERATION OF RUSSIA et also Defendants ORDER Before the court is Plaintiff Charles Alan Owen's ex parte motion for an order permitting alternative service. Based on a review of the complaint, the court is in doubt as to subject matter jurisdiction-the issue appears to be whether a Russian gymnastics federation may require Russian, Ukrainian, Belarussian and Uzbekistani gymnasts to obtain the federation's authorization for the gymnasts to have websites constructed by the Plaintiff. Because the federation's authority to put conditions on its gymnast members' websites appears to involve purely questions of Russian law-or at least questions of law not involving the laws of Maine or the United States-and because the only connection to Maine appears to be the fact that Plaintiff designs the websites, this court may lack subject matter jurisdiction. The court also views the allegations regarding the Defendants' contacts with the State of Maine as being insufficient on their face to confer personal jurisdiction. Therefore, before acting on the pending motion for alternative service, the court will address its own jurisdiction. The clerk will schedule this case for a future civil motion list at which the Plaintiff may appear and present his argument for jurisdiction. Pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 79, the clerk is hereby directed to incorporate this order by reference in the docket. ~,;/ ' ~ # / ~ L / Dated 4 March 2011 /~ Justice, Superior Court
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