Opinion ID: 671506
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Judicial Resources

Text: 50 Finally, courts have considered the efficient use of scarce judicial resources. Criteria relevant to efficiency include (1) the inconvenience of the federal forum, see Colorado River, 424 U.S. at 818, 96 S.Ct. at 1247; Ingersoll, 833 F.2d at 685; (2) the desirability of avoiding piecemeal litigation, Colorado River, supra, Ingersoll, supra; (3) whether the actions have parties and issues in common, see Ronar v. Wallace, 649 F.Supp. at 318; and (4) whether the alternative forum is likely to render a prompt disposition, see id. We have already discussed the convenience of the federal forum. The desire to avoid piecemeal litigation is also relevant to the convenience of the forum. If both proceedings continued, the courts' calendars would have to be synchronized and the litigation would have to move back and forth across the Atlantic. We have already noted that the actions involve substantially the same parties and issues. Finally, the German court would seem as likely as the American forum to render a prompt disposition. Although the appeal of the German decision will not be heard until 1995, the German litigation has moved much farther along than the American action. There has been no discovery in the American litigation, while a trial on the merits has already occurred in Germany. Overall, we readily conclude that concerns regarding judicial efficiency militate strongly in favor of staying or dismissing the instant action in favor of the German litigation.