Opinion ID: 785473
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Dismissal of the Claim for Remediation of the Plant Site

Text: 67 Finally, we reject plaintiffs' contention that the district court erred in dismissing their claims for remediation of the former UCIL plant site. In shaping equity decrees, the trial court is vested with broad discretionary power; appellate review is correspondingly narrow. Lemon v. Kurtzman, 411 U.S. 192, 200, 93 S.Ct. 1463, 36 L.Ed.2d 151 (1973). A district court's grant or denial of equitable relief is reviewed for abuse of discretion, which may consist of, inter alia, a ruling based on an erroneous view of the law or on a clearly erroneous assessment of the evidence. See generally Zervos v. Verizon New York, Inc., 252 F.3d 163, 169-71 & n. 5 (2d Cir.2001). 68 The practicability of drafting and enforcing an order or judgment for an injunction is one of the factors to be considered in determining the appropriateness of injunction against tort. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 943 (1979) ( Restatement ). The federal court sitting as a 69 court of equity having personal jurisdiction over a party has power to enjoin him from committing acts elsewhere. But this power should be exercised with great reluctance when it will be difficult to secure compliance with any resulting decree or when the exercise of such power is fraught with possibilities of discord and conflict with the authorities of another country. 70 Vanity Fair Mills, Inc. v. T. Eaton Co., 234 F.2d 633, 647 (2d Cir.1956) (footnote omitted). If drafting and enforcing are found to be impracticable, the injunction should not be granted. Restatement comment a; see also Bethlehem Engineering Export Co. v. Christie, 105 F.2d 933, 935 (2d Cir.1939) (denying injunctive relief as impracticable). There may be circumstances in which it is appropriate for a court to grant injunctive relief with respect to the remediation of an environmental problem in a foreign country, as, for example, where the other nation has attempted to join the federal lawsuit, see, e.g., Jota v. Texaco Inc., 157 F.3d 153, 155, 158 (2d Cir.1998), and much of the relief sought could be fully provided by [the defendant] without any participation by [the other nation], id. at 162. But injunctive relief may properly be refused when it would interfere with the other nation's sovereignty. See generally Vanity Fair Mills, Inc. v. T. Eaton Co., 234 F.2d at 647; 11A C. Wright, A. Miller & M. Kane, Federal Practice & Procedure § 2942, at 52-53 (2d ed.1995). 71 In the present case, the plant-site remediation sought by plaintiffs would necessarily require the cooperation of the State of Madhya Pradesh, for it is the current owner and possessor of the land. And although the district court inferred that Madhya Pradesh would cooperate in a remediation effort, see Bano II, 2003 WL 1344884 at , Madhya Pradesh has neither been made a party to this lawsuit nor sought to intervene, and the record contains no communication from Madhya Pradesh or the Indian government indicating its receptivity to an order of a United States court compelling work on the property. Thus, Union Carbide's ability to comply with an injunction requiring remediation of the former UCIL plant site would be dependent on permission from an entity that is not a party to this lawsuit and that, therefore, cannot be subject to the district court's injunction. See, e.g., Alemite Manufacturing Corp. v. Staff, 42 F.2d 832, 832 (2d Cir.1930) ([N]o court can make a decree which will bind any one but a party.). Given that circumstance, along with the concerns expressed by the district court as to the difficulty that a United States court would have in controlling and overseeing the progress of remediation in India, we see no abuse of discretion in the court's conclusion that an injunction for remediation of the plant site would be impracticable. However, given that the matter is to be remanded for further proceedings with respect to Bi's claims of damage to her property, we believe the district court should be free to revisit its dismissal of the claim for plantsite remediation in the event that the Indian government or the State of Madhya Pradesh seeks to intervene in the action or otherwise urges the court to order such relief.