Opinion ID: 214223
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Mexico's Availability as an Alternative Forum

Text: Before the doctrine of forum non conveniens may be applied to dismiss a case, a district court must first determine whether an adequate alternative forum is available to the plaintiff. Lueck, 236 F.3d at 1143. An alternative forum is adequate if the intended forum is capable of provid[ing] the plaintiff with a sufficient remedy for his wrong. Dole Food, 303 F.3d at 1118. An alternative forum ordinarily exists when defendants are amenable to service of process in the foreign forum and `when the entire case and all parties can come within the jurisdiction of that forum.' Id. (emphasis omitted) (quoting Alpine View Co. v. Atlas Copco, 205 F.3d 208, 221 (5th Cir.2000)). Plaintiffs do not challenge the adequacy of Mexico as an alternative forum if it takes jurisdiction; rather, they argue that the district court erred in finding Mexico was an available forum. Plaintiffs argue that the District Court erred because it shifted the burden of proof on the availability of an alternative forum to them. Plaintiffs further contend that the district court erred in granting the motion to dismiss when experts disagreed as to whether Mexico would have jurisdiction over the case. We disagree and do not fault the district court's initial forum non conveniens analysis. Here, the district court considered the expert opinions presented by both sides in determining that Mexico was an available forum. Defendant presented evidence through its expert that Mexican courts would have jurisdiction of the case if Defendant agreed to submit to its forum. Defendant's expert opined that the Mexican court in Nuevo Leon would have jurisdiction over this lawsuit under the express submission doctrine. Additionally, Plaintiffs' expert on Mexican law stated that parties could agree to submit to jurisdiction. According to Plaintiffs' expert: As a general rule, especially in all kinds of contracts, the parties will be allowed to agree to designate a forum for the resolution of disputes but both parties have to fully agree on such jurisdiction clause. Plaintiffs' expert qualified his opinion by stating that it is not enough for one party to submit to jurisdiction in Mexico; rather, both parties must consent. Based on the evidence presented to the district court, it appeared that Plaintiffs would be asserting their claims and that Defendant had expressly agreed to submit to Mexican jurisdiction. Ordinarily, to show an available forum, all that is required is that the defendant is amenable to service of process in the foreign jurisdiction. See Piper Aircraft, 454 U.S. at 254 n. 22, 102 S.Ct. 252. Accordingly, we find that the district court reasonably concluded that Mexico was an available alternative forum. Normally, the trial court's decision, in the absence of other facts, merits substantial deference. See Lueck, 236 F.3d at 1143 ([W]here the court has considered all relevant public and private interest factors, and where its balancing of these factors is reasonable, its decision deserves substantial deference. (quoting Creative Tech., Ltd. v. Aztech Sys. Pte., Ltd., 61 F.3d 696, 699 (9th Cir.1995))). However, while this case looks like an easy candidate for a straightforward affirmance of the district court's forum non conveniens analysis, In re Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., 420 F.3d 702, 705 (7th Cir.2005), we cannot ignore the procedural history of this case in Mexico after the district court rendered its decision. At its core, the doctrine of forum non conveniens is concerned with fairness to the parties. See, e.g., Piper Aircraft, 454 U.S. at 255, 102 S.Ct. 252. We are therefore compelled to address the fact that Mexico has declined to accept jurisdiction. Chief Justice John Marshall proclaimed the judicial objective that every right, when withheld, must have a remedy, and every injury its proper redress. Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 163, 2 L.Ed. 60 (1803) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Piper Aircraft, 454 U.S. at 254 n. 22, 102 S.Ct. 252 (explaining that where the remedy offered by the other forum is clearly unsatisfactory, the other forum may not be an adequate alternative). Here, to simply affirm the district court without acknowledging that Plaintiffs do not have a forum in which to bring their case would, apparently, be to leave their horrific injuries wholly unredressed. As the Seventh Circuit stated in similar circumstances, [i]t would be unfair ... to pretend that nothing had occurred at all, particularly because the district court's assumption about the availability of a Mexican forum might, in the end, prove to be erroneous. In re Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., 420 F.3d at 706. We note that we are not the first circuit to address unusual circumstances in which affirming a forum non conveniens dismissal would have potentially left plaintiffs without a forum. In Bridgestone/Firestone, the district court dismissed a case involving a Mexican resident who was injured when his vehicle rolled over in Veracruz, Mexico. Id. at 703. While on appeal to the Seventh Circuit, the Mexican courts ruled that Mexico did not have personal jurisdiction over Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone because, like Defendant here, they were not domiciled in Mexico. Id. at 705. The Seventh Circuit held that while it could not fault the district court's forum non conveniens analysis, it was appropriate to send the matter back to the district court for additional findings about whether the plaintiffs had abused the Mexican process by not indicating defendants' willingness to submit to Mexico's jurisdiction or whether it was truly an unavailable forum. Id. at 706-07. Similarly, other circuits have held that substantial changes in law or politics after the district court's forum non conveniens analysis may warrant revisiting its decision. In Abdullahi v. Pfizer, Inc., 562 F.3d 163, 172 (2d Cir.2009), the Second Circuit noted that after the plaintiffs appealed the district court's dismissal on forum non conveniens grounds, tectonic change ... altered the relevant political landscape, which included the government of the foreign jurisdiction bringing charges against the defendant. As a result, the defendant no longer sought a foreign venue. Id. at 189. The court concluded that the matter was properly remanded for the district court to revisit its analysis. Id.; see also Bank of Credit & Commerce Int'l (Overseas) Ltd. v. State Bank of Pakistan, 273 F.3d 241, 246-47 (2d Cir.2001) (remanding for the district court to consider the implications of a new Pakistani law that was enacted while the plaintiff's appeal was pending). We are persuaded by the reasoning of our sister circuits, and join them in holding that when intervening developments in a foreign jurisdiction, subsequent to a district court's initial forum non conveniens ruling, could leave plaintiffs without an available forum in which to bring their claims, it is appropriate to remand the matter back to the district court so it can reconsider its decision based upon updated information. On remand, the district court should consider appropriate evidence from the parties (remaining mindful that the burden of showing the availability of an alternative forum remains with the Defendant, Lueck, 236 F.3d at 1143), and make findings of fact as to why the Mexican courts declined to take jurisdiction in this case. If the district court determines that the primary reason the Mexican courts declined to take jurisdiction of Plaintiffs' case was Plaintiffs' actions or inactions in the case, it retains discretion to again order dismissal, with appropriate conditions, if any. On the other hand, if the district court determines that the Mexican courts declined to take jurisdiction of Plaintiffs' case because Defendant is not domiciled in Mexico and cannot submit to Mexico's jurisdiction, it would be an abuse of discretion for the district court to dismiss Plaintiffs' case based on forum non conveniens grounds. Because we leave it to the district court to evaluate whether the Plaintiffs gamed the system in Mexico, combined with the fact that the district court retains the discretion to dismiss the case if it makes such a finding, we disagree with our dissenting colleague's view that we are rewarding scofflaws, and encouraging litigants to manipulate the system. Dissent at 1033.