Opinion ID: 172533
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: The District Court's Conditional Dismissal

Text: Finally, Yavuz argues the district court's forum non conveniens dismissal fails to take into account several necessary conditions for him to successfully bring suit in a Swiss court. In particular, Yavuz argues the district court's order failed to ensure (1) defendant Adi is subject to service of process in Switzerland, (2) defendants do not employ any possible statute of limitations defenses in a Swiss proceeding, and (3) the attendance of non-party witnesses and production of documents. During the remand proceedings, after the district court noted it was leaning towards a forum non conveniens dismissal, Yavuz's counsel expressed his concern regarding the 61 MM Defendants and their amenability to suit in Switzerland. In response, the 61 MM Defendants agreed to enter into a written stipulation that they would submit to the jurisdiction of the court in Fribourg, Switzerland. As a result, the district court dismissed the suit with two key conditions: ( l ) That the Defendants, 61 MM, LTD and 61 MM Corp., enter into a written agreement with Plaintiff to submit to the jurisdiction of the courts of Fribourg, Switzerland; (2) This case may be reinstated in the event that jurisdiction in the Swiss courts is declined. Aplt. Br. at Attach. A (Dist.Ct.Order, Oct. 17, 2008). While such conditions are within the district court's discretion, they are not mandatory for a proper forum non conveniens dismissal. E.g., Magnin v. Teledyne Cont'l Motors, 91 F.3d 1424, 1430 (11th Cir.1996) (finding that a district court may attach conditions to a forum non conveniens dismissal to which the defendants, as the moving party, may agree). Yavuz contests the efficacy of these two requirements, and, for the first time on appeal, claims the district court failed to impose additional conditions. We find no clear abuse of discretion here. First, as discussed above, Adi appears to be amenable to service in Switzerland. Second, it is unclear from Yavuz's cursory arguments why the district court needs to police legal defenses that could be raised in the Swiss forum. Without any discussion on the record below, we cannot conclude the district court abused its discretion by not sua sponte imposing additional conditions on the dismissal. Finally, we are not convinced that a Swiss court's procedures would be inadequate to ensure the attendance of witnesses and proper production of documents by the defendants. In short, the district court imposed the two conditions the parties agreed stood in the way of a proper forum non conveniens dismissal. The district court ensured the attendance of the 61 MM Defendantsthe only defendants about whom Yavuz expressed concerns regarding their amenability to process and suit in Switzerland. The court also conditioned its dismissal on the Swiss court's assumption of jurisdiction over the dispute and permitted Yavuz to reinstate his claims in Oklahoma federal court, without prejudice, should the Swiss court decline to hear the case. For these reasons, the district court's conditional dismissal was not in error.