Aldabe v. Environmental Services, Inc.

The federal district court for the District of Massachusetts dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction and failure of service of process a lawsuit brought by a pro se plaintiff who claimed that the defendants had not met their obligations in connection with the plaintiff's project to obtain carbon credits by protecting Bolivian rainforest from deforestation. The plaintiff contended that one defendant violated its contractual obligations to provide "validation and verification" services to assess whether the plaintiff's forest preservation project complied with the Verified Carbon Standard (VC standard). The plaintiff also asserted that the company that established the VC standard had violated contractual obligations, artificially depressed the price of carbon credits, and acted negligently in certifying the first defendant to validate and verify projects. The plaintiff also alleged that a third defendant was negligent for certifying the first defendant as competent. The court found that the plaintiff's emails and telephone calls with the first two defendants' employees and the plaintiff's payment with a check drawn from a Massachusetts bank were insufficient contacts for personal jurisdiction over the first two defendants. The court also dismissed without prejudice the claims without prejudice against the third defendant for failure of service of process. The court allowed the plaintiff time to effect service but noted that the defendant had a potentially meritorious motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction should service be perfected and that the plaintiff might wish to file a new case in another jurisdiction. The case was closed on December 21, 2017.