Opinion ID: 2315756
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Movant's Burden of Proof

Text: Williams argues that the Superior Court erred, as a matter of law, by failing to give Williams' first filed Delaware action the great deference normally accorded to first filed suits. The deference which is properly accorded to first filed suits in Delaware is provided by placing the burden of proof upon the party who seeks to dismiss or stay a first filed action. The burden is imposed upon the moving party under such circumstances because: [A]s a general rule, litigation should be confined to the forum in which it is first commenced, and a defendant should not be permitted to defeat the plaintiff's choice of forum in a pending suit by commencing litigation involving the same cause of action in another jurisdiction of its own choosing.... McWane Cast Iron Pipe Corp. v. McDowell-Wellman Engineering Co., Del. Supr., 263 A.2d 281, 283 (1970); see also General Foods Corp. v. Cryo-Maid, Inc., Del.Supr., 198 A.2d 681, 683 (1964). The burden of proof which is placed upon the movant has been succinctly described by this Court. [I]n order for a defendant to prevail on a motion to stay [or dismiss] a plaintiff's [first filed] Delaware action on the ground of forum non conveniens, pending the outcome of a suit subsequently filed by the defendant, the burden is upon the defendant to show inconvenience and hardship sufficient to move the [trial court] to delay the exercise of its jurisdiction. ANR Pipeline Co. v. Shell Oil Co., Del. Supr., 525 A.2d 991, 992 (1987) (citing Texas City Refining, Inc. v. Grand Bahama Petroleum Co., Ltd., Del.Supr., 347 A.2d 657 (1975); Moore Golf, Inc. v. Ewing, Del.Supr., 269 A.2d 51 (1970)). In this case, the Superior Court concluded that Williams' first filed Delaware action was commenced in anticipation of Apache's second filed action in Colorado, at a time when the parties were involved in settlement negotiations. The Superior Court stated that [t]his kind of jockeying for position has been an important factor in Delaware decisions which have denied `first filed' status to such suits. See General Foods Corp. v. Cryo-Maid, Inc., Del.Supr., 198 A.2d 681, 683 (1964), overruled on other grounds, Pepsico, Inc. v. Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co., Del.Supr., 261 A.2d 520 (1969); Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. v. Lummus Company, Del.Ch., 252 A.2d 545, 547 (1968), rev'd on other grounds, Del.Supr., 252 A.2d 543 (1969). Therefore, the Superior Court held that Williams' Delaware action should not be given the deference which is appropriately accorded to valid first filed suits. Notwithstanding that holding, the Superior Court placed the burden upon Apache to prove inconvenience and hardship by demonstrating that the combination and weight of the appropriate factors in a traditional forum non conveniens analysis weighed overwhelmingly in favor of its motion to dismiss or stay Williams' first filed Delaware action. By placing that burden of proof upon Apache, we have concluded that the Superior Court did, in fact, give Williams' first filed Delaware action the deference to which a valid first filed action is entitled.