This action arose from an accident which occurred on October 23, 2008 when Plaintiff Frank Bazalo allegedly tripped and fell over a small metal chain located around a Christopher Columbus statue located at UNICO Park in the City of Newburgh, New York. Plaintiffs alleged that Defendants, Unico National, Inc. and Newburgh Chapter of the Unico National owned, maintained, managed, and/or controlled the UNICO Park.

Krupa Shah, on behalf of her client UNICO National, Inc. filed a motion to dismiss Plaintiff's Complaint, pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(8), predicated upon the Supreme Court of New York, Orange County's lack of personal jurisdiction over UNICO National, Inc., a not-for-profit New Jersey corporation created to help preserve Italian heritage and culture.

The Court held that it is well-settled that an unlicensed foreign corporation is subject to the jurisdiction of New York only if it is doing business in New York or if it falls within the purview of New York's long arm jurisdiction statute. Further, the Court held that UNICO National, Inc. sufficiently established that UNICO National, Inc. did not fall within the purview of New York 's long arm jurisdiction statute and that it was a foreign corporation that was not "doing business" in New York in that its employees and agents were not engaged in commercial activity on a regular, ongoing, and systematic basis within the state.

With this favorable decision, Krupa Shah was able to preliminarily dismiss Plaintiff's Complaint and Farmers Insurance Company significant litigation costs.