Ajuba International, L.L.C. v. Saharia, 871 F. Supp. 2d 671

MiraMed Global Services, Inc. is a Michigan corporation; Ajuba International is a Michigan LLC; Ajuba India is an Indian corporation; Ajuba India’s parent/successors own Ajuba International.
Saharia is a former Michigan resident who co-founded Ajuba International, later entering into 2005 employment and noncompetition agreements with Ajuba International that included confidentiality and Michigan forum clauses.
In 2011 Saharia resigned from Ajuba India and covertly formed AGS India to compete with Plaintiffs, using former employees and trade secrets to undermine Plaintiffs’ U.S. operations.
Plaintiffs filed a ten-count complaint (later Amended to eleven counts) in July 2011 in the Eastern District of Michigan; Defendants moved to dismiss and to stay in March 2012, arguing forum non conveniens and abstention.
Ajuba India filed a related action in India in September 2011 alleging similar conduct against Saharia and AGS India, but that action does not name Ajuba International or MiraMed as plaintiffs and does not involve AGS U.S. or AGS Health as defendants.
The court grants-in-part and denies-in-part the dismissal motion, denies the stay, and later addresses jurisdiction, CFAA viability, and the forum non conveniens issue.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Personal jurisdiction over Defendants	Plaintiffs show Michigan-related torts and agency actions.	Defendants contend no Michigan-specific tort or acts targeting Michigan.	Limited personal jurisdiction is proper under Michigan long-arm statutes and due process.
viability of the CFAA claim	CFAA violations occurred via misappropriation of trade secrets and improper access.	Saharia had authorized access; no unauthorized access or excess of authority.	CFAA claim dismissed for failure to plead access without authorization or exceeding authorization.
Subject matter jurisdiction (diversity) after CFAA dismissal	Diversity exists between Michigan and Indian entities with diverse citizenship.	With CFAA dismissal, no federal question; potential lack of diversity.	Subject matter jurisdiction exists under 28 U.S.C. 1332(a)(3) notwithstanding CFAA dismissal.
Forum non conveniens	India is not an adequate forum to resolve all Michigan-law claims.	India should be an adequate alternative forum.	Not dismissed on forum non conveniens; India is not clearly adequate for all claims.
Colorado River abstention stay	Parallel Indian proceeding may warrant abstention.	Stay should be granted if proceedings are parallel and adequate.	Colorado River abstention denied; proceedings are not parallel and stay would be inappropriate.

Air Products and Controls, Inc. v. Safetech Int’l, Inc., 503 F.3d 544 (6th Cir. 2007) (two-step personal jurisdiction framework; long-arm statute and due process)
Neogen Corp. v. Neo Gen Screening, Inc., 282 F.3d 883 (6th Cir. 2002) (minimum contacts and due process standard for jurisdiction)
Asahi Metal Indus. v. Superior Court, 480 U.S. 102 (1987) (purposeful availment and reasonableness considerations)
Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno, 454 U.S. 235 (1981) (forum non conveniens framework and deference to alternative forum)
Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, 330 U.S. 501 (1947) (multifactor private/public interest balancing for forum non conveniens)
Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Construction Corp., 460 U.S. 1 (1983) (abstention and parallel proceedings guidance in stay)
Brekka v. Nielsen, 581 F.3d 1127 (9th Cir. 2009) (narrow interpretation of 'without authorization' and 'exceeds authorized access' under CFAA)
ReMedPar, Inc. v. AllParts Med., L.L.C., 683 F. Supp. 2d 605 (M.D. Tenn. 2010) (adopts narrow CFAA interpretation; treatment of authorization)
Pulte Homes, Inc. v. Laborers’ Int’l Union of N. Am., 648 F.3d 295 (6th Cir. 2011) (employment context CFAA interpretation; distinguishing misuse from lack of authorization)
Mohasco Indus., Inc. v. South? Mach. Co., 401 F.2d 374 (6th Cir. 1968) (three-part due process test for personal jurisdiction)