Opinion ID: 54041
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: conclusion

Text: Mexico is an adequate and available forum for this case and both the private and public factors strongly support dismissal of this case under forum non conveniens. Dtex cites two cases, Zermeno v. McDonnell Douglas Corp., 246 F.Supp.2d 646, 659 (S.D.Tex.2003) and Wilson v. Humphreys (Cayman) Limited, 916 F.2d 1239, 1246 (7th Cir.1990), to support its argument that this court should defer to the American plaintiff's choice of forum. This court recognizes this principle but finds that the factors in this case weigh so strongly in favor of dismissal that this case is distinguishable from the cases Dtex cites. In Zermeno, 246 F.Supp.2d at 662-63, the plaintiffs were Mexican and the defendants were Mexican and American; the deference accorded an American plaintiff's forum choice was not an issue. In Wilson, which involved a claimed assault in a Cayman Islands hotel, the court found that it would be a hardship for the plaintiffs, individuals from Indiana, to litigate in the Cayman Islands and that the relevant factors did not support dismissal on the basis of forum non conveniens. The court found that the American plaintiffs would be strongly disadvantaged by transfer to a foreign forum because they would likely face barriers even to file suit. They would, for example, be unable to obtain an attorney (attorneys in the Cayman Islands do not take work on a contingent basis), could not receive a jury trial, and would have to post a bond. The present case involves no such barriers. Dtex has already successfully litigated related issues in Mexican courts. As the court in Wilson noted, to the extent that these disadvantages are grounded in differences of substantiative law of the Cayman Islands, they may be given some, but not substantial or conclusive weight. Id. at 1247, n. 10. In Wilson, most of the Cayman Islands witnesses were party employees whose presence in the United States could be arranged. In this case, by contrast, the many Mexican witnesses include a large number of nonparty witnesses, as well as extensive other evidence that would be very difficult to present in a Texas court. Neither Zermeno nor Wilson support a different result in this case, in which the balance tips so strongly in favor of dismissal as to outweigh Dtex's choice of this Texas forum.