Opinion ID: 577047
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Judgment Enforceability.

Text: 29 ELMA argues that the district court erred in weighing ELMA's alleged inability to enforce a United States judgment in the Netherlands, when ELMA can enforce such a judgment against SWD's assets in the United States. ELMA points out that the district court merely assumed that SWD's assets were located solely in the Netherlands, and that SWD failed to meet its burden of producing affidavit evidence of the location of its assets to establish that a judgment in ELMA's favor could be enforced only in the Netherlands, and not in the United States or some other country that harbors SWD assets and enforces United States judgments. 30 The district court's conclusion that ELMA would have to proceed on ... [a] judgment in the Netherlands did not rest upon any explicit finding regarding ELMA's ability to enforce judgment on SWD assets located elsewhere. ELMA and SWD agree that the record does not establish the location of SWD's assets. Since the burden fell on SWD to establish that the judgment-enforceability factor favored dismissal, we believe that the district court was unreasonable in weighing this factor in favor of SWD. We think that the district court should have found this factor to be in equipoise between the parties. 31 Considering all of the relevant factors, including the district court's inability to reach SUAG documents or compel the attendance of witnesses relevant to SWD's fault-sharing defense, the access to proof sources, and the relative inconvenience associated with producing witnesses for trial, we cannot say that the district court concluded unreasonably that the private interest factors favor dismissal. While the district court gave substantial weight to SWD's ability to join SUAG in the Netherlands, the court's opinion does not indicate that the court impermissibly gave conclusive weight to that, or any other, single factor. Without approving the extent of analysis conducted by the district court, we are unable to say that the district court's conclusion regarding the private interest factors was unreasonable, relative to the convenience of the alternative fora for the parties' presentation of their respective claims and defenses.