Bestor v. Costa Crociere, S.P.A.
| Decision Date | 25 October 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 001661Civ.,No. 991914Civ.,No. 001662Civ.,991914Civ.,001661Civ.,001662Civ. |
| Parties | Belle BESTOR and Stanley H. Bestor, Plaintiffs, v. COSTA CROCIERE, S.P.A., Defendant. Eleanor Cohon and Julian Cohon, Plaintiffs, v. Costa Crociere, S.P.A., Defendant. Patricia Esfeld and Donald Esfeld, Plaintiffs, v. Costa Crociere, S.P.A., Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida |
Xavier Martinez, Michael Olin, Podhurst, Orseck, et al., Miami, FL, for plaintiff.
Stephanie Wylie, David Horr, Horr, Novak & Skipp, Miami, FL, for defendant.
ORDER DISMISSING CASES WITHOUT PREJUDICE TO THEIR REFILING IN AN APPROPRIATE FORUM
THESE CAUSES are before the Court for review. The pending motions posit an interesting query: may this Court entertain a diversity action, when a Florida court has dismissed an identical prior state court action for forum non conveniens? As explained below, this Court's diversity jurisdiction will not sustain such an action. These cases must, therefore, be dismissed.
These personal injury actions arise from an automobile accident in Da Nang, Vietnam. Plaintiffs Belle and Stanley Bestor, Eleanor and Julian Cohon, and Patricia and Donald Esfeld (collectively "Plaintiffs") are three married couples, all of whom are United States citizens. The Bestors reside in the State of California, and the Cohons and the Esfelds reside in the State of Washington. In January of 1994, Plaintiffs were on a cruise of the Western Pacific. Defendant, an Italian corporation, owns and operates the ship on which Plaintiffs were traveling, the Ocean Pearl. Da Nang was one of the Ocean Pearl's ports of call. On January 19, 1994, Plaintiffs arranged, through the Ocean Pearl's staff, to take a guided van tour of the Da Nang area. During that tour, the driver lost control of the van, causing the vehicle to skid across the road, hit an embankment, and roll over into a roadside ditch. Plaintiffs all suffered severe injuries, which forced them to cut short their cruise and return home.
The Bestors, the Cohons, and the Esfelds filed separate lawsuits against Defendant in the Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, in and for Miami-Dade County, Florida, seeking redress for their injuries.1 Defendant moved to dismiss the lawsuits for forum non conveniens. The trial judge denied Defendant's motions to dismiss.2 Defendant appealed the denial of its motion to dismiss in the Bestors' case, but chose not immediately to appeal the denial in either the Cohons' case or the Esfelds' case. Florida's Third District Court of Appeal reversed the denial of the motion to dismiss for forum non conveniens in the Bestors' case. See Pearl Cruises v. Bestor, 678 So.2d 372 (Fla.App. 1996), review denied, 689 So.2d 1068 (Fla. 1997). Chief Judge Schwartz's opinion for the court was brief, and it is reproduced fully here:
The plaintiffs-appellees are California citizens who, through their travel agent in Massachusetts, booked passage on an Italian liner for a Western Pacific cruise which began in Singapore. When the ship docked in Vietnam, they arranged with the vessel for an excursion ashore in a private vehicle. The car was involved in a traffic accident and they were injured. They sued the shipowner, an Italian corporation, and four foreign agents of the line in the Dade County circuit court and duly served process upon them. The defendants moved to dismiss the case without prejudice under the forum non conveniens doctrine. Although the defendants have consented to the jurisdiction of the courts of Italy, the home of the corporate shipowner, and waived reliance on any statute of limitations, the trial judge denied the motion. We reverse.
On the basis of a mere recital of the operative facts, which involve no meaningful relationship to Florida whatever, the maintenance of this case involves the epitome of the abuse of our courts which the Supreme Court decision in Kinney System, Inc. v. Continental Insurance Co., 674 So.2d 86 revised, 658 So.2d 991 (1995) has so salutarily forbidden. On the authority of that decision, we hold that the cause must be dismissed.
We reject plaintiffs' claim that the alternative forum proposed by the defendants, Italy, is so inappropriate that its availability does not overcome the weight of the plaintiffs' choice of forum. It is obvious that because Florida's interests in this litigation are next to non-existent, Italy's, which include the very substantial one of concern for its own domiciliaries, see Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno, 454 U.S. 235, 102 S.Ct. 252, 70 L.Ed.2d 419 (1981); Kinney, 674 So.2d at 87-88 are substantially more significant than those of this state. When, as here, a "balancing" of both the Kinney private and public interests so clearly requires dismissal, it is necessary only that "an adequate alternate forum exists which possesses jurisdiction over the whole case." See Kinney, 674 So.2d at 94 (proposed Rule 1.061(a)(1)). Italy indubitably qualifies on that score. Finally, one may observe that if the plaintiffs find the Italian forum unattractive, they are free to bring suit in any other jurisdiction which will entertain it.
Accordingly, the order below is reversed with directions to grant the motion to dismiss for forum non conveniens.
Reversed.
Id. at 372-73 (footnotes omitted). The Bestors petitioned the Florida Supreme Court for review; but their petition was summarily denied without an opinion. See 689 So.2d 1068. Thus, the Florida courts are closed to the Bestors.
Given the appellate success in the Bestors' case, Defendant renewed its motions to dismiss for forum non conveniens in both the Cohons' case and the Esfelds' case. The trial court, however, again denied Defendant's motions. Defendant appealed the denials of its renewed motions. The Third District Court of Appeal consolidated the cases on appeal and reversed the trial court, holding that the forum non conveniens issue was controlled by its earlier decision in the Bestors' case. See Pearl Cruises v. Cohon, 728 So.2d 1226 (Fla.App.) (per curiam), review denied, 744 So.2d 453 (Fla.1999). The Florida Supreme Court subsequently denied, without opinion, the Cohons and Esfelds' petition for review. See 744 So.2d 453. Therefore, the doors to Florida's courts are also shut for the Cohons and the Esfelds.
After the Florida Supreme Court denied review of their case, the Bestors filed suit in this Court on July 8, 1999. The case was originally assigned to Judge Ursula Ungaro-Benages, who recused. The case was then randomly reassigned to Chief Judge Edward B. Davis. After being served, Defendant moved to dismiss the action. Defendant's primary argument was that the Bestors were collaterally estopped from bringing this action by the Third District Court of Appeal's decision that Italy, not Florida, was the appropriate forum for the action. Alternatively, Defendant argued that the case should be dismissed independently under the federal forum non conveniens doctrine. Defendant also challenged the legal sufficiency of the allegations made in the complaint.
By way of an order dated February 25, 2000, Judge Davis denied Defendant's motion to dismiss. Initially, Judge Davis concluded that the doctrine of collateral estoppel did not bar the action because the forum non conveniens issues presented in the two cases were not identical. Specifically, Judge Davis found that "the Third District focused its attention on the connection of the action, and its operative facts, to Florida," while "under federal law, district courts must focus their attention on the relevant action's connection to the United States as a whole, not just on the action's connection with a specific state or jurisdiction." Case No. 99-1914-CIV Feb. 25, 2000 Order at 3. Judge Davis then went on to conduct, anew, the federal forum non conveniens analysis and determine that, based upon a weighing of the public and private interests, the case should not be dismissed for forum non conveniens. Finally, Judge Davis rejected Defendant's contention that the complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.
On March 10, 2000, Defendant moved the Court to reconsider its denial of the motion to dismiss. Judge Davis denied the motion for reconsideration on March 31, 2000. Defendant then petitioned the Court for permission to take an interlocutory appeal of the order denying its motion to dismiss. That petition is currently pending. On June 15, 2000, the case was reassigned to the undersigned United States District Judge, due to Judge Davis' retirement from the bench.
On May 10, 2000, the Cohons and the Esfelds filed separate lawsuits in this Court. The Cohons' case was originally assigned to Judge Adalberto Jordan, and the Esfelds' case was originally assigned to Judge Alan S. Gold. Both cases have now been reassigned to the undersigned United States District Judge, in accordance with Local Rule 3.9(C), which directs that substantially similar cases are to be consolidated before the judge to whom the first filed case was assigned.3
Defendant has moved to dismiss both the Cohons' case and the Esfelds' case. As it did in the Bestors' case, Defendant argues that the cases should be dismissed (1) under the doctrine of collateral estoppel, (2) independently under the federal forum non conveniens standard, or (3) for failure to state claim upon which relief may be granted. Defendant also asserts that the cases should be dismissed for improper service of process. Finally, Defendant contends that these federal actions are barred by the Rooker/Feldman doctrine.4 The Cohons and the Esfelds vigorously oppose the motions to dismiss, averring that the state court dismissals for forum non conveniens are...
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