Opinion ID: 399873
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Comity and International Conflicts

Text: 13 A district court should not apply the antitrust laws to foreign conduct or foreign actors if such application would violate principles of comity, conflicts of law, or international law. See Alcoa, 148 F.2d at 443; 1 J. von Kalinowski, supra, §§ 5.03 & 5.04. The act of state doctrine, which we rejected as a defense to this suit in the prior appeal, is an example of a principle of comity which, when applicable, prevents the court from entertaining a claim. See Banco Nacional de Cuba v. Sabbatino, 376 U.S. 398, 416-27, 84 S.Ct. 923, 934-40, 11 L.Ed.2d 804 (1964). Like the act of state doctrine, the question whether any other principle of comity, or of international law, or any conflicts of law analysis prevents the district court from entertaining the suit is a question of law which is fully reviewable by this court on appeal. 7 14 Defendants invoke the conflicts of law analysis established in Timberlane Lumber Co. v. Bank of America, 549 F.2d at 613-15. But their attempt to satisfy the Timberlane test is a series of mere assertions, unsupported by the pleadings or by summary judgment evidence. For example, despite defendants' slightly familiar arguments, they have not demonstrated any conflict with (the) law or policy of the Indonesian government or any potential difficulty in enforcing a district court decree. Timberlane, 549 F.2d at 614. Neither the Indonesian court's nullification of plaintiffs' joint venture agreement with Telaga Mas nor the Indonesian government's action in cancelling its approval of plaintiffs' joint venture-both described in our prior opinion, see 594 F.2d at 50-has been shown to have been an approval of defendants' efforts to destroy the joint venture agreement or a determination that plaintiffs were not entitled to enforce their contractual rights or to do business in Indonesia. To the contrary, a second Indonesian court held that plaintiffs were not bound by the nullification order, and the Indonesian government invited plaintiffs and Telaga Mas to make a new agreement. See id. Moreover, the evidence in the present record more strongly supports the plaintiffs' contention that prosecution of this suit is fully consistent with the laws and policy of Indonesia because defendants' actions may have been torts or statutory violations under Indonesian law. 15 Defendants have demonstrated no basis for declining to entertain this suit. The grant of summary judgment on this ground was error.