COMPLAINT OF SEDCO, INC., Civ. A. No. H-79-1880
| Decision Date | 24 August 1984 |
| Docket Number | H-79-2389,H-79-2436 and H-81-120.,Civ. A. No. H-79-1880,H-79-1982,H-79-2157 |
| Citation | 610 F. Supp. 306 |
| Parties | In the Matter of the Complaint of SEDCO, INC. As Owner of the Mobile Drilling Unit Sedco 135, Its Engines, Tackle, Apparel, etc., In a Cause of Exoneration From or Limitation of Liability. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Texas |
Theodore C. Dimitry, Eugene Silva, H.S. Morgan, Harold Watson, Francis Spagnoletti, Vinson & Elkins, Houston, Tex., for Sedco, Inc., petitioner.
Ted Hirtz, B.D. Daniel, Dave Elmers, Hirtz & McDonough, Houston, Tex., for Permargo.
Finis E. Cowan, Joseph Cheavens, Thomas Matlock, Baker & Botts, Houston, Tex., for Pemex.
Joseph D. Jamail, Richard Mithoff, Jamail & Kolius, Houston, Tex., for George F. Haylock, et al.
W. James Kronzer, Kronzer, Abraham & Watkins, Houston, Tex., Rollins M. Koppel, Michael Ezell, Koppel, Ezell & Deane, Harlingen, Tex., Roger Robinson, Raymondville, Tex., Paul Cunningham, Jr., South Padre Island, Tex., for Willacy County Navigation Dist., et al.
Sidney Ravkind, Mandell & Wright, Houston, Tex., Richard C. Arroyo, Brownsville, Tex., for Troy Giles, et al.
Douglas Caroom, Ken Cross, Austin, Tex., for Mark White, etc., et al.
Robins Brice, Royston, Rayzor, Vickery & Williams, Houston, Tex., for Exploration Loggins, S.A.
Jack Shepherd, Asst. U.S. Atty., Houston, Tex., Wells D. Burgess, Charles Findlay, Washington, D.C., for United States of America.
Michael R. Ezell, Koppel, Ezell & Deane, Harlingen, Tex., Jack G. Carinhas, Jr., Carinhas, Dale & Morrow, Brownsville, Tex., for Ahco, Inc., et al.
Norbert John Wilcox, Dallas, Tex., for Norbert John & Terree Ann Wilcox.
O'CONOR, District Judge.
Before the Court is Sedco, Inc.'s ("Sedco") Motion for Reconsideration of this Court's March 30, 1982 Interlocutory Order, 543 F.Supp. 561, dismissing Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction based on the grant of sovereign immunity provided by the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1602 et seq. ("FSIA"). Also before the Court is Perforaciones Marinas Del Golfo S.A.'s ("Permargo") Motion to Direct Arbitration and Motion to Stay Litigation Pending Arbitration.
Sedco, in its motion, urges that Pemex's activities in drilling the Ixtoc I well came under the commercial acts exception in Section 1605(a)(2) of the FSIA. The third clause of § 1605(a)(2), applicable here, requires that the lawsuit be based on acts in connection with commercial activity performed outside the United States which have direct effects in the United States.
This Court, in its March 30, 1982 Order, gave perhaps too much weight to the evidence presented by Pemex that the well was drilled for exploratory purposes to aid the Mexican government's long range planning and policy-making process concerning the development of its minerals. That evidence was presented by the affidavits of two Mexican lawyers and a letter from a Mexican consul in Houston, Texas. Sedco has presented evidence in its Memorandum in Support of Motions for Rehearing and Reconsideration which conflicts with this Court's conclusion based on said evidence that the IXTOC I well was drilled for exploratory purposes. Sedco attached as Exhibit A to its Memorandum a copy of the Pemex drilling program for the well as authenticated by the affidavit of Monty Jack Tarbutton which indicates the well was drilled for commercial exploitation. The objective, as...
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