Court Opinion

ID: 9487661
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:23:23.309361+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:25.245444
License: Public Domain

ROTH, Circuit Judge,
dissenting: No. 94-1054.
Although I share the majority’s view that the district court should have articulated its reasons for denying the Letter Rogatory’s request for comity, I reach a different decision as to the action we should take in view of the district court’s failure to rale on comity. I base my conclusion on a combination of a desire for judicial economy and a determination, from the record before us, that it would have been inappropriate to grant the Letter Rogatory, extending comity to the Mexican bankruptcy court. I therefore respectfully dissent.
In reaching this conclusion, I, too, place great emphasis on Remington Rand v. Business Systems, Inc., 830 F.2d 1260 (3d Cir.1987). Yet, my reading of Remington does not lead to the broad view of comity advocated by the majority. In Remington, our pronouncements on the importance of comity are specifically confined to the district court’s attempt to attach foreign assets:
To the extent that the district court order seeks to attach BSI assets in the United States, it will not be disturbed. No international trappings surround the district court’s imposition of a constructive trust over assets located, in the United States. We see no aspects of comity implicated here. The same is not true, however, insofar as the attachment of foreign assets is concerned. We believe that before that aspect of the judgment can be sustained, certain conditions precedent ... must first be satisfied.
Id. at 1272. Importantly, the doctrine of comity did not prevent the Court in Remington from affirming certain decisions reached by the district court, including the district court’s findings that BSI had misappropriated trade secrets and that BSI must return certain confidential “know how” documents to Remington U.S. These decisions were upheld, even though there is no indication in Remington that the district court specifically indicated why it chose to decide these matters rather than defer .to the bankruptcy proceeding simultaneously underway in The Netherlands.
In my view, the issues argued on summary judgment in the instant matter resemble the issues that were not precluded by considerations of comity in Remington. Specifically, PGC seeks a declaratory judgment on PGMex’s rights to use PGC’s trademarks and technical material, to manufacture products from PGC’s designs, and to act as PGC’s *195sales representative in Mexico. Because such a determination does not implicate assets held by PGMex in Mexico, the district court’s action does not affect the ability of a Mexican bankruptcy court to effectively distribute PGMex’s assets to its creditors. Accordingly, the district court would not have abused its discretion if it had decided that comity did not preclude it from deciding the merits of the parties’ summary judgment motions.
Additionally, concerns for judicial economy weigh against remanding the matter without reaching the merits on appeal. The district court’s grant of summary judgment was the focus of the briefing and argument before this Court. We are familiar with the issues, and they are ripe for a decision.
Because we can decide these issues, because comity should not, under Remington, preclude us from deciding them, and because judicial resources would not best be served by simply vacating summary judgment without deciding the issues, I conclude that we should rule on the district court’s grant of summary judgment. My review of the parties’ motions for summary judgment reveals that numerous issues of material fact exist, including whether the parties orally modified their sales and technical agreements at the September 24, 1990 meeting. Accordingly, I would reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of PGC on its declaratory judgment complaint and its grant of summary judgment against PGMex on its counterclaims, and I would remand the case to the district court for further proceedings.