Opinion ID: 781969
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Suit in Defendant's Home Forum

Text: 33 Pollux and Springwell challenge the district court's deference analysis on a final ground, declaring that their choice of the Southern District of New York is due particular deference because it is defendant Chase's home forum. Springwell maintains, citing Iragorri, that when a plaintiff sues in the defendant's home forum, that choice should be deemed reasonable and receive the same presumptive deference as that given when a resident plaintiff sues in its own home forum. In its attempt to create a per se rule favoring litigation in the defendant's home forum, Springwell misconstrues Iragorri. 34 In Iragorri we addressed the following question: what degree of deference should the district court accord to a United States plaintiff's choice of a United States forum where that forum is different from the one in which the plaintiff resides. Id. at 69. In answering this question we said that [i]t is not a correct understanding of the rule to accord deference only when the suit is brought in the plaintiff's home district. Id. at 73. We observed that [o]ne of the factors that necessarily affects a plaintiff's choice of forum is the need to sue in a place where the defendant is amenable to suit and that [w]here a U.S. resident leaves her home district to sue the defendant where the defendant has established itself and is thus amenable to suit, this would not ordinarily indicate a choice motivated by desire to impose tactical disadvantage on the defendant. Id. at 72-73. 35 Although a plaintiff's choice of forum will not necessarily merit less deference because plaintiff is suing outside her home forum, such a choice made to obtain jurisdiction over defendant is an instance where substantial deference would still be generally appropriate. But, it is an untenable leap of logic to jump from that holding to the blanket assertion that a plaintiff's choice of forum deserves presumptive deference simply because the chosen forum is defendant's home forum. It is reasonable for a court to assume that a plaintiff's choice of her own home forum is motivated by convenience. The plaintiff's choice of the defendant's home forum provides a much less reliable proxy for convenience. Bearing in mind that litigants rarely are concerned with promoting their adversary's convenience at their own expense, a plaintiff's choice of the defendant's home forum over other fora where defendant is amenable to suit and to which the plaintiff and the circumstances of the case are much more closely connected suggests the possibility that plaintiff's choice was made for reasons of trial strategy. Accordingly, a plaintiff's choice to initiate suit in the defendant's home forum — as opposed to any other where the defendant is also amenable to suit — only merits heightened deference to the extent that the plaintiff and the case possess bona fide connections to, and convenience factors favor, that forum. 36 The notion that underlies our refusal automatically to grant any particular deference to a plaintiff's choice of the defendant's home forum is illustrated in this case. The fact that New York is Chase's home jurisdiction does not show that plaintiffs' decision to bring suit here was driven by considerations of convenience. For purposes of our deference analysis it is much more critical, as already noted, that other than the earlier mentioned wire transfers, faxes and the sale of the GKO Notes, plaintiffs offered no proof that they have connections to the United States and failed to demonstrate that New York is convenient for them. It is also a key point that the district court found that plaintiffs' declarations make it clear that their interactions with Chase were centered in London. Plaintiffs' decision to initiate suit in Chase's home forum notwithstanding, the plaintiffs and their case have only a faint connection to the United States and thus their choice of forum does not merit the same substantial deference afforded to a suit initiated in a plaintiff's home forum. III Gilbert Analysis 37 After making an initial assessment of the deference due the plaintiff's choice of forum, a district court must next determine whether an adequate alternative forum exists and, if so, then balance private and public interest factors to ascertain whether the case should be adjudicated in plaintiff's chosen forum or in the alternative forum proposed by defendant. See Gilbert, 330 U.S. at 507-09, 67 S.Ct. 839. As our analysis below indicates, the district court properly determined England to be an adequate alternative forum and properly weighed the prescribed private and public interest factors that supported its decision to dismiss the complaints. 38 The issue of whether or not the bank's proposed alternative forum of England is adequate need not detain us long. An alternative forum is adequate if the defendants are amenable to service of process there, and if it permits litigation of the subject matter of the dispute. Piper Aircraft, 454 U.S. at 254 n. 22, 102 S.Ct. 252; Capital Currency Exch., N.V. v. Nat'l Westminster Bank PLC, 155 F.3d 603, 609 (2d Cir.1998). Chase agreed in the trial court to submit to the jurisdiction of England as a condition of dismissal and, with several of appellants' claims asserted under English statutory law, there can be no doubt that England permits litigation to resolve commercial disputes of the type presented in this case. Since plaintiffs have not asserted that English courts are in any way inadequate and because we have expressed high regard for those courts' fairness and commitment to the rule of law, see Wiwa, 226 F.3d at 101, it certainly cannot be said that it was an abuse of discretion to hold that England was an adequate alternative forum. 39 The next issue under Gilbert is to weigh defendant's hardships if jurisdiction is retained in the forum of plaintiff's choice against plaintiff's hardships if the motion to dismiss is granted and plaintiff is forced to begin suit anew in a different forum. Gilbert sets out private and public interest factors to be considered when balancing the relative hardships and conveniences. The private interest factors relevant here include (1) the relative ease of access to sources of proof, (2) availability of compulsory process for attendance of unwilling witnesses, and the cost of obtaining attendance of willing witnesses, and (3) all other practical problems that make trial of a case easy, expeditious and inexpensive. Gilbert, 330 U.S. at 508, 67 S.Ct. 839. 40 In analyzing the private interest factors the district court found that only one, the availability of compulsory process, favored one forum over the other in the case at hand. With respect to the ease of access to sources of proof, for example, the trial court observed that there were undoubtedly relevant documents in both New York and London but that, in any event, technological advances have minimized the burden of transporting documentary evidence. Similarly, with respect to the cost of obtaining witnesses, the court observed that most of the witnesses likely to appear at trial reside in England, but found that neither Chase nor appellants offered evidence that the cost of obtaining witnesses in either forum would be prohibitive. Although Judge Wood was not persuaded that it would be exorbitantly expensive to obtain witnesses in either forum, she did observe that Chase identified several key witnesses whose testimony can be compelled only in England while plaintiffs have not demonstrated that any material witnesses would be unavailable there. Thus, she ruled that this factor weighs heavily in favor of dismissal. Our review of that record does not show any private interest factors' findings to be clearly erroneous. 41 Appellants do little to contest these findings other than to suggest that, had the district court granted their motions for discovery on forum-related issues, they would have been able to offer more evidence tilting the consideration of private interest factors in their favor. Pollux, in fact, challenges the district court's denial of its forum-related discovery motion, arguing on appeal that the trial court abused its discretion. Plaintiffs have not articulated any persuasive reason for us to believe that the sought after discovery would have yielded additional support for their position. Accordingly, we find no abuse of discretion in the district court's decision to deny plaintiffs' motions and to decide the forum non conveniens motion based on the existing record. 42 Turning to the public interest factors, the Supreme Court has explained 43 Factors of public interest also have place in applying the doctrine. Administrative difficulties follow for courts when litigation is piled up in congested centers instead of being handled at its origin. Jury duty is a burden that ought not to be imposed upon the people of a community which has no relation to the litigation. In cases which touch the affairs of many persons, there is reason for holding the trial in their view and reach rather than in remote parts of the country where they can learn of it by report only. There is a local interest in having localized controversies decided at home. There is an appropriateness, too, in having the trial of a diversity case in a forum that is at home with the state law that must govern the case, rather than having a court in some other forum untangle problems in conflict of laws, and in law foreign to itself. 44 Gilbert, 330 U.S. at 508-09, 67 S.Ct. 839. 45 Although several of the public interest factors were not found to favor adjudication in either New York or London, those factors that were found to weigh in favor of a particular forum weighed in favor of the latter. For instance, the trial court found London has a stronger local interest in the dispute. Since the Notes were purchased by plaintiffs in England the district court reasoned that England has a greater interest in regulating investment activity that occurs there, citing the plaintiffs' invocation of English securities law in their complaints as underscoring the point. The trial court gave two additional reasons why England possesses the stronger local interest: it stated that the alleged fraud and misrepresentations primarily occurred there, and that plaintiffs' allegations of breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty arise out of contracts entered into in London. In contrast, Judge Wood was not persuaded that New York's generalized interest in overseeing the bank, which is headquartered in New York, created any strong local interest. With small local interest in the dispute, it would be burdensome for a New York jury to hear and decide this case. 46 Even more than the local interest or jury burden factors, Judge Wood found that choice of law considerations favor adjudication in England. Given that most of the relevant conduct occurred in England, English law would apply to the preponderance of plaintiffs' tort claims. Because the financing agreements relating to the Notes contained choice of law provisions electing English law, English law would likely apply to all of the plaintiffs' contractual claims as well. And, English law would obviously apply to plaintiffs' claims initiated pursuant to English securities law. The only claims the district court considered likely to be construed under New York law are the plaintiffs' negligent supervision claims and conversion claims. Yet, owing to the fact that the overwhelming majority of plaintiffs' claims necessitate the application of English law, the trial court concluded that choice of law considerations strongly tipped in favor of litigation in England. 47 Although appellants maintain that the findings with respect to the public interest factors are erroneous and that these findings, when coupled with the deference and private interest analysis, erroneously led the district court to dismiss their suit on the grounds of forum non conveniens, our review has not convinced us that the trial court abused its discretion. As a consequence, we see no reason on the facts or law to disturb its dismissal of plaintiffs' complaints on grounds of forum non conveniens.