La Seguridad v. Transytur Line

• Decision Date: 24 June 1983
• Docket Number: No. 81-5949,81-5949
• Citation: 707 F.2d 1304,1983 AMC 2559
• Parties: C.A. LA SEGURIDAD, as Subrogee, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TRANSYTUR LINE, In Personam and M/V Nela Altomare, Her Engines, Boilers, etc., In Rem, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1304

707 F.2d 1304

C.A. LA SEGURIDAD, as Subrogee, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TRANSYTUR LINE, In Personam and M/V Nela Altomare, Her Engines, Boilers, etc., In Rem, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 81-5949.

United States Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit.

June 24, 1983.

Armstrong & Mejer, Alvaro L. Mejer, Coral Gables, Fla., for plaintiff-appellant.

Richard F. Ralph, Miami, Fla., for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Before TJOFLAT, KRAVITCH and HATCHETT, Circuit Judges.

TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge:

In this case we consider whether the district court abused its discretion in conditionally dismissing on forum non conveniens grounds La Seguridad's suit in admiralty against Transytur, a Venezuelan ocean-carrier. ¹ The suit involves the loss of goods described in three bills of lading issued by the defendant's port agent, Transytur Line of Florida, Inc., in Miami, Florida. Appellant La Seguridad is a Venezuelan insurance company which has compensated its insureds, the consignees of the goods, and has become subrogated to their rights. Our review of the record indicates that the issues dispositive of La Seguridad's claim have not as yet been developed, making impossible any determination of the relative convenience of the respective forums. We therefore vacate the order of dismissal, and remand so that the district court may conduct such further proceedings as are necessary to make a determination.

I.

La Seguridad's complaint set forth two theories of recovery against Transytur: that Transytur breached its contracts of carriage ² by failing to deliver merchandise in the same good order and condition as received, and that it similarly failed to fulfill its duties and responsibilities as bailee for hire. The complaint does not, however, indicate precisely what conduct constituted the alleged breach, nor where that conduct occurred, matters highly relevant to the forum non conveniens issues presented in this appeal. The defendant Transytur, without filing an answer, moved to dismiss on forum non conveniens grounds, supporting that motion with an affidavit from its Miami port agent.

Neither that motion nor the supporting affidavit helped to delineate the issues in the case. The motion simply stated that the crew of the vessel in question was Venezuelan, and that there was no issue that the goods in question had been loaded and carried and witnesses having knowledge of facts relating to these claims reside or are found in Venezuela. The port agent's affidavit, without averring personal knowledge, reiterated that the goods were received, loaded, and carried from Miami and that, to the best of his knowledge, the witnesses and documents material to the case were in Venezuela. Transytur offered no theory of defense to the action, and hence no basis for its conclusion that the evidence that existed in Venezuela was relevant to the case. ³ La Seguridad, in its responses to the motion, did not offer any explanation as to how the goods were lost, or why it was entitled to recover for that loss; it simply denied that the loss occurred on Venezuelan territory and stressed the contacts that the transaction had with the United States. ⁴

La Seguridad's first indication of the facts it thought relevant to its claim emerged in its motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of liability, filed during the pendency of the forum non conveniens motion. The summary judgment motion argued that a showing that the carrier received the cargo in good condition and failed to deliver the cargo in like condition would establish a prima facie case as to the carrier's liability. La Seguridad claimed that documents already in its possession established both elements of this prima facie case, and hence that it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. ⁵ Transytur, rather than addressing the motion on its merits, moved for additional time to respond to the motion after the court's disposition of its forum non conveniens motion. Thus, the district court still had nothing before it with which to decide the forum non conveniens motion but assertions as to the degree of contacts the transaction had with the United States and Venezuela, and conclusory allegations as to where relevant evidence might be located.

Despite this undeveloped record, the court entered an initial order of dismissal, stating "[t]he record discloses that all parties to this litigation and the witnesses having knowledge of the incidents surrounding the loss of goods shipped from Mexico to Venezuela are Venezuelan corporations and citizens with their principal places of business and homes in the Republic of Venezuela." Record, vol. 1 at 56. The court further stated that the claims and issues had no relation to the United States except that the goods left from Miami and the defendant had a port agent there.

Having erred in stating that the goods which formed the basis of the litigation were shipped from Mexico to Venezuela, the court granted a hearing on La Seguridad's motion for relief from the court's order of dismissal. The hearing still failed to clarify the issues in dispute. Transytur claimed that it received the cargo in good condition, loaded it on the ship in good condition, and whatever happened to it, happened in Venezuela. It stated "[t]here are no factual issues in this case that arise in the United States." Record, vol. 2, at 12. La Seguridad countered by rejecting Transytur's "admission" that the goods were loaded aboard the ship as a "self-serving statement" by counsel. It stated, "there are no documents showing those goods were loaded aboard that ship[,]" thus holding out the possibility that the critical events occurred in Miami, not Venezuela. Id. at 14. To Transytur's subsequent claim that the whole case will turn factually on whether there was constructive delivery to the consignees in Venezuela, suggesting that the cargo disappeared in Venezuelan customs, La Seguridad's counsel stated, correctly enough given the state of the record, "there are no facts to support that." Id. at 24.

The court did not attempt to go beyond these representations of counsel to ascertain the underlying facts of the case. It did not attempt to pin counsel down to their theories of the case, and the facts that would support their theories. Instead, noting the Venezuelan nationality of all the parties, it declined to try the case where all of the issues, "as they now stand admitted by the defendant," occurred in Venezuela and the only contacts with the United States were that the contract was entered into in Miami and the goods shipped from there. ⁶ Id. at 27. The court's order reaffirming its original order of dismissal states--without any support in the record other than Transytur's so-called "admission" that it received the goods for shipment in good condition and that the goods were actually shipped on the defendant's line to Venezuela--that the issue will revolve around what happened to the goods at the time they were received in Venezuela. Record, vol. 1, at 68.

II.

Under the doctrine of forum non conveniens, a district court has inherent power to decline to exercise jurisdiction over a case when an adequate, alternative forum is available. Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, 330 U.S. 501, 506-07, 67 S.Ct. 839, 842, 91 L.Ed. 1055 (1947). The court must "weigh relative advantages and obstacles to fair trial" in each forum, considering factors of private and public interest. Id. at 508, 67 S.Ct. at 843. The analytic method the district court should employ has been well-summarized as follows:

As a prerequisite, the court must establish whether an adequate alternative forum exists which possesses jurisdiction over the whole case. Next, the trial judge must consider all relevant factors of private interest, weighing in the balance a strong presumption against disturbing plaintiffs' initial forum choice. If the trial judge finds this balance of private interests to be in equipoise or near equipoise, he must then determine whether or not factors of public interest tip the balance in favor of a trial in a foreign forum. If he decides that the balance favors such a foreign forum, the trial judge must finally ensure that plaintiffs can reinstate their suit in the alternative forum without undue inconvenience or prejudice.

Pain v. United Technologies Corp., 637 F.2d 775, 784-85 (D.C.Cir.1980) (emphasis in original), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1128, 102 S.Ct. 980, 71 L.Ed.2d 116 (1981). A plaintiff who chooses a foreign forum substantially undercuts the presumption his choice is reasonable: "[b]ecause the central purpose of any forum non conveniens inquiry is to ensure that the trial is convenient, a foreign plaintiff's choice deserves less deference." Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno, 454 U.S. 235, 256, 102 S.Ct. 252, 266, 70 L.Ed.2d 419 (1981) (footnote omitted).

Since the touchstone of forum non conveniens analysis is convenience, controlling weight cannot be given to any one factor in the balancing process or the doctrine would lose much of the flexibility that is its essence. Piper Aircraft, 454 U.S. at 249, 102 S.Ct. at 262. The Supreme Court has indicated that, in considering the private interests of the litigants, some important considerations are: relative ease of access to sources of proof; ability to obtain witnesses; possibility of view of premises, if relevant; and "all other practical problems that make trial of a case easy, expeditious and inexpensive." Gilbert, 330 U.S. at 508, 67 S.Ct. at 843. The Court also listed certain public interest factors bearing upon the forum's interest in entertaining the lawsuit: court congestion and jury duty generated by controversies having no relation to the forum; the desirability of having localized controversies decided at home; and the difficulties attendant resolving conflict-of-laws problems and applying foreign law. Id. at 508-09, 67 S.Ct. at 843. It is evident that...