Dombrowski v. Swiftships, Inc.

• Decision Date: 30 August 1994
• Docket Number: No. 94-6514-CIV-ZLOCH.,94-6514-CIV-ZLOCH.
• Citation: 864 F. Supp. 1242
• Parties: Joseph L. DOMBROWSKI, Plaintiff, v. SWIFTSHIPS, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida

864 F. Supp. 1242

Joseph L. DOMBROWSKI, Plaintiff, v. SWIFTSHIPS, INC., Defendant.

No. 94-6514-CIV-ZLOCH.

United States District Court, S.D. Florida.

August 30, 1994.

Guy B. Bailey, Scott L. Cagen, Miami, FL, and John E. Galloway, and John J. Erny, Galloway Johnson Tompkins & Burr, New Orleans, for plaintiff.

Philip A. Franco, Sean D. Moore, Adams & Reese, New Orleans, LA, and J. Michael Fitzgerald, Miami, FL, for defendant.

ORDER

ZLOCH, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

THIS MATTER is before the Court upon the Motion To Reconsider Order Transferring Action To The United States District Court For The Eastern District Of Louisiana (DE 11), filed by the Defendant, Swiftships, Inc., and upon the Court having reviewed the record and being otherwise fully advised in the premises.

The Court notes that the Defendant, Swiftships, Inc., seeks reconsideration of this Court's Order (DE 9) which transferred the above-styled cause to the Eastern District of Louisiana pursuant to Title 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) (1994). Since this Court correctly construed and applied Section 1404, considered only those relevant factors incident to ruling upon such a transfer motion, and properly exercised judicial discretion, the Defendant's motion is without merit. For the benefit of the parties, the Court shall reiterate the analysis of the prior order of transfer in greater detail.

II. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Under Title 9 U.S.C. § 10 (1994) of The Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA"), the Defendant, Swiftships, Inc., filed a motion to vacate an arbitration award in this district as part of a multiple-case dispute that has been pending in the Eastern District of Louisiana since 1992. In response, the Plaintiff, Joseph L. Dombrowski, moved this Court for an order transferring venue to the Eastern District of Louisiana under Title 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) for the convenience of the parties and witnesses, and in the interests of justice.

After due consideration of the Plaintiff's motion, this Court exercised its discretion under the traditional Section 1404(a) analysis. As stated by Title 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a):

For the convenience of the parties and witnesses, in the interests of justice, a district court may transfer any action to any other district or division where it might have been brought.

In applying Section 1404(a), this Court undertook the familiar two-step inquiry. Under the first prong, a district court needs to ascertain if the action "might have been brought" in the transferee district. In this regard, this Court's prior order held that: "clearly, this question is answered in the affirmative." (DE 9 at 1). Since this finding serves as the primary motivation of the Defendant's motion for reconsideration, this opinion subsequently examines this issue at greater length.

As to the second prong of the section 1404(a) analysis, a district court must properly weigh the convenience of the parties and witnesses, and the interests of justice. In the prior order of transfer, this Court observed:

The courts have traditionally considered several factors in determining whether the doctrine of forum non conveniens should apply to a particular case. Those factors are: (1) convenience of the parties; (2) convenience of the witnesses; (3) relative ease of access to sources of proof; (4) availability of process to compel presence of unwilling witnesses; (5) cost of obtaining presence of witnesses; and (6) the public interest.

(DE 9 at 2) (citing Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, 330 U.S. 501, 67 S.Ct. 839, 91 L.Ed. 1055 (1947)). Based upon these factors, this Court noted in the transfer order that "the facts supporting transfer under these standards are abundant." (DE 9 at 2). In fact, as an illustration, this Court made specific reference to the fact that the Defendant's principal place of business is located in Morgan City, Louisiana, and that the essential dispute between the parties has been pending in the Eastern District of Louisiana since 1992.

Based on these findings under Section 1404(a), this Court granted the motion to transfer. Moreover, this Court also notes that a reexamination of its prior order, made in the light of the supplemental filings of the parties and the factors urged by the litigants, would not alter this Court's original conclusion. Accordingly, before this Court examines the specifics of the Defendant's motion to reconsider as it relates to the first prong of Section 1404(a), this Court reaffirms its prior ruling in all other respects.

III. MOTION TO RECONSIDER

The principle argument of the Defendant's opposition to the change in venue is based on the first prong of the Section 1404(a) analysis. In its motion to reconsider, the Defendant suggests that this case could not "have been brought" in the Eastern District Of Louisiana where the other cases were filed.

The Defendant appears to believes that, regardless of the convenience of the parties and witnesses or the interests of justice, the language of Section 10 of the FAA mandates exclusive jurisdiction in the Southern District of Florida. In particular, the Defendant thinks that the following words clearly articulate an express jurisdictional limitation: "the United States court in and for the district wherein the award was made may make an order vacating the award...." Title 9 U.S.C. § 10(a) (1994).

Thus, in spite of the concerns embodied in Section 1404(a), the Defendant surmises that this Court cannot transfer venue of this case, even if that transfer is to the most convenient forum. Indeed, the Defendant believes that its construction of the FAA is somehow compelled by Naples v. Prepakt Concrete Co., 490 F.2d 182 (5th Cir.1974), and that this Court made a "manifest error of law" in its prior order of transfer. See (DE 11 at 1).

After a careful review of the law, however, this Court finds that the Defendant's opinion of Section 10 is in error, and that this Court's prior order correctly determined that the Eastern District of Louisiana is a district where this case "might have been brought."

IV. DISCUSSION

A. Lack of Binding Authority

At the outset, this Court notes that neither Naples v. Prepakt Concrete Co., 490 F.2d 182 (5th Cir.1974), nor any binding circuit opinion in the Eleventh Circuit or the Fifth Circuit, has resolved the current venue issue arising under Section 10 of the FAA.

In the Prepakt case, the former Fifth Circuit did not engage in the present question of statutory construction, but rather concerned itself with an issue of waiver under Section 9 of the FAA. In Prepakt, a Florida municipality and an Ohio corporation agreed in writing that an arbitration association would decide the location of any arbitration proceedings that arose from the parties' contract. When a contractual dispute did arise, the arbitration association directed that the arbitration proceedings take place in Ohio. In response, the city objected and sought to enjoin the Ohio proceedings. Ultimately, the Fifth Circuit in Prepakt held that the city had waived any objection to the Ohio arbitration and that no injunction should be issued.

In this way, the Prepakt court based its holding upon the waiver doctrine, and the court never addressed whether an order to vacate an arbitration award is either exclusively or permissively within the jurisdiction of the United States court "in and for the district wherein the award was made." Title 9 U.S.C. § 10(a) (1994). In fact, the Fifth Circuit itself has defined Prepakt as merely holding "that because a party had waived its right to designate venue in Florida, the district court in Florida could not enjoin valid confirmation proceedings in Ohio." Jolley v. Paine Webber Jackson & Curtis, Inc., 864 F.2d 402, 405 (5th Cir.1989) (emphasis added).

This reading of Prepakt is totally consistent with the many district courts that have held that the Prepakt case does not dispose of the venue issue. See Wing v. J.C. Bradford & Co., 678 F.Supp. 622, 626 (N.D.Miss. 1987) (held that Prepakt was "distinguishable" and that the district court had jurisdiction to confirm the arbitration award even though the award was entered in another district); Tesoro Petroleum Corp. v. Asamera (South Sumatra) Ltd., 798 F.Supp. 400, 403 (W.D.Tex.1992) (held that the circuit "has not directly addressed this issue," and that Prepakt was influenced by "principles of comity, judicial restraint and waiver"); Enserch International Exploration, Inc. v. Attock Oil Co., 656 F.Supp. 1162, n. 1 (N.D.Tex. 1987) (District court "does not read Prepakt as squarely deciding the question presented.").

Accordingly, since this Court is without binding precedent, this Court examines the venue issue arising under Section 10 of the FAA as a case of first impression.

B. Plain Language Approach

The starting point for interpreting a statute is, of course, the "language of the statute itself." Consumer Product Safety Com. v. GTE Sylvania, Inc., 447 U.S. 102, 108, 100 S.Ct. 2051, 2056, 64 L.Ed.2d 766 (1980); See also United States v. Kahn, 415 U.S. 143, 151, 94 S.Ct. 977, 982, 39 L.Ed.2d 225 (1974) (The starting point is the "precise wording chosen by Congress."). As a general rule of statutory construction, where the terms of a statute are unambiguous, "judicial inquiry is complete." Rubin v. United States, 449 U.S. 424, 430, 101 S.Ct. 698, 701, 66 L.Ed.2d 633 (1981).

Under this plain language approach, however, the particular inquiry is not the "abstract force" of the words or what they may comprehend, but rather in what "sense were they intended to be understood or what understanding they convey when used in the particular act." Marek v. Chesny, 473 U.S. 1, 15, 105 S.Ct. 3012, 3020, 87 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985). As defined by the Supreme Court, the "plain" meaning of a statute does not include an overly literal application that is "demonstrably at odds with the intentions of its drafters." United States v. Ron Pair Enterprises, Inc., 489 U.S. 235, 242, 109 S.Ct. 1026, 1031, 103 L.Ed.2d 290 (19...