Group v. Davé

• Decision Date: 09 July 2010
• Docket Number: No. 10-mc-0077(JDB).,10-mc-0077(JDB).
• Citation: 711 F.Supp.2d 13
• Parties: PAN AM FLIGHT 73 LIAISON GROUP, Movant,v.Giatri DAVÉ & Gargi Davé, Respondents.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

711 F.Supp.2d 13

PAN AM FLIGHT 73 LIAISON GROUP, Movant,v.Giatri DAVÉ & Gargi Davé, Respondents.

No. 10-mc-0077(JDB).

United States District Court District of Columbia.

May 12, 2010.

Opinion Denying Stay Pending Appeal July 9, 2010.

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Abid Riaz Qureshi, Edward Jay Shapiro, Latham & Watkins, Washington, DC, for Movant.

Suzelle M. Smith, Howarth & Smith, Los Angeles, CA, Kathryn Lee Boyd, Howarth & Smith, Newbury Park, CA, for Respondents.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JOHN D. BATES, District Judge.

This action arises out of a dispute over the enforceability of a contract-termed the Joint Prosecution Agreement (“JPA” or “the Agreement”)-by which victims of the 1986 hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 agreed to jointly pursue legal remedies. Giatri Davé and Gargi Davé, victims of the hijacking and respondents here, brought suit in California state court seeking a declaratory judgment that the JPA was unenforceable. The Pan Am Flight 73 Liaison Group (“the LG”), a defendant in the Davés' California action and the movant here, thereafter initiated this action to compel the Davés to arbitrate their claims. It also has moved for a preliminary injunction seeking to hold in escrow disputed assets. For their part, the Davés have moved to transfer this case, or to stay the case pending the termination of the California action. The Court heard oral arguments on the parties' motions on March 4, 2010. In an order issued on May 7, 2010, the Court granted the LG's motion to compel arbitration, and denied both the Davés' motion to transfer or to stay, and the LG's motion for a preliminary injunction.¹ This opinion articulates the reasons for those decisions.

I.

Four members of the Abu Nidal Organization, allegedly operating with financial and logistical support from Libya, hijacked Pan Am Flight 73 on September 5, 1986. By the end of that terrible ordeal, the hijackers had killed twenty passengers and injured another approximately 130 passengers. In 2004, a group of victims-and in some cases their representatives or estates-decided to pursue jointly “legal remedies, including a civil action, against the Libyan State ..., and certain individuals implicated [in] and convicted of carrying out the hijacking.” LG's V. Mot. to Compel Arbitration (“LG's Arbitration Mot.”) [Docket Entry 3], Ex. A(JPA), 1. To do so, the victims executed the JPA, which, among other things, created the LG to act as the managing agent for the victims' collective legal claims. See LG's Arbitration Mot. at ¶ 14; JPA at p. 1. The LG comprises five individuals-residents of Connecticut, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, and India-who were “either victims of the Pan Am Flight 73 hijacking themselves or were family members of individuals killed during the hijacking.” LG's Arbitration Mot. at ¶ 2. It is tasked with “maintaining and overseeing the conduct of all litigation, settlement, and collection efforts,” and “act[ing] in the interests of the Parties respecting any issues arising during the” prosecution of the victims' claims. JPA at ¶ 6.

With the LG as their managing agent, the parties to the JPA agreed not only to “jointly pursue their legal claims in the same proceedings and subsequent collection efforts,” but also to “share in the recovery arising from any proceedings.” Id. at p. 2. The victims selected Crowell & Moring LLP, an international law firm, to represent them, and agreed that “[t]o the extent there is any financial recovery against any of the Defendants, either jointly or severally, either by way of settlement, judgment or other award, all monies shall be deposited in the Crowell & Moring LLP IOLTA account.” Id. at ¶ 2. After payment of litigation expenses and attorneys' fees, the remaining funds would be distributed to the victims according to a formula set forth in the JPA. See id. at ¶ 5. Moreover, the JPA parties agreed to mediate any dispute regarding “the construction and enforceability of the Agreement or any actions or disputes arising under or in connection with the Agreement.” Id. at ¶¶ 13-14. And they agreed that if mediation were unsuccessful, they would submit their dispute “for confidential arbitration under the provisions of the American Arbitration Association” before a three-member arbitration panel. Id. Arbitration under the Agreement must be held in the District of Columbia. See id. at ¶ 13.

Giatri Davé and Gargi Davé, both United States citizens, were passengers on Pan Am Flight 73. See LG's Arbitration Mot., Ex. D (Davés' Cal. Compl.), ¶ 1. They both became parties to the JPA in 2005 “by virtue of each executing a Joinder to [the] Pan Am Flight 73 Joint Prosecution Agreement.” LG's Arbitration Mot. at ¶ 18. In doing so, the Davés “agree[d] to be bound by all terms, conditions and covenants contained in the Agreement.” Id., Ex. B (Davés' JPA Joinders), 1, 4. And in their joinders, they each represented that they had read “the terms, conditions, and covenants of the Agreement”; had “underst[ood] all terms and conditions of the Agreement and agree[d] to be bound by its terms”; and had “been represented by an attorney in the review of the Agreement and the decision to execute [the] Joinder, or ... had the opportunity to do so, and elected not to do so.” Id. at 1-2, 4-5. Approximately 180 individuals-both U.S. nationals and non-U.S. nationals-became parties to the JPA.

Pursuant to the Agreement, Crowell & Moring filed a lawsuit against Libya in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. See LG's Arbitration Mot. at ¶ 15; see also Manjula Patel v. The Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Civ. A. No. 06-0626 (D.D.C. filed Apr. 24, 2006). Crowell purportedly pursued the case “actively” during the ensuing two years. See LG's Arbitration Mot. at ¶ 15. As Crowell was litigating the victims' claims, Congress passed the Libyan Claims Resolution Act, Pub.L. No. 110-301, 122 Stat. 2999 (2008), which set forth procedures to govern how individuals would be compensated if the United States and Libya were to settle outstanding terrorism-related claims by U.S. citizens against Libya.

Two weeks after Congress passed the Libyan Claims Resolution Act, the United States and Libya signed the Claims Settlement Agreement Between the United States of America and the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (“Claims Settlement Agreement”). See Claims Settlement Agreement available at http:// www. state. gov/ documents/ organization/ 109771. pdf. The stated objective of the Claims Settlement Agreement was to “reach a final settlement of the Parties' claims, and those of their nationals”; “terminate permanently all pending suits”; and “preclude any future suits” based on past terrorist actions or military measures taken by the United States or Libya. Claims Settlement Agreement, Art. I. As part of the settlement, Libya and the United States “agree[d] to authorize the establishment of a humanitarian settlement fund ... as the basis for settling the claims and terminating and precluding ... suits.” Id., Art. II. Libya contributed $1.5 billion to the fund. See id., Annex. Fulfilling his duty under the treaty, President Bush thereafter espoused and settled all existing terrorism-related claims by United States nationals against Libya. See Exec. Order No. 13,477, 73 Fed. Reg. 65,965, at 65,965 (Oct. 31, 2008). In his executive order, President Bush also granted the Secretary of State the authority to promulgate “procedures governing application of United States nationals with [terrorism-related] claims ... for compensation for those claims.” Id.

Consistent with the Libyan Claims Resolution Act and Executive Order 13,477, the Department of State paid monetary awards to parties that previously held pending wrongful death claims against Libya. See LG's Arbitration Mot. at ¶ 15. The State Department also “referred ‘for adjudication and certification’ claims for physical injury and, later, six other forms of injury to the [Foreign Claims Settlement Commission],” id., an entity within the Department of Justice that adjudicates claims of U.S. nationals against foreign governments see 22 U.S.C. § 1622. Because Executive Order 13,477 terminated the JPA parties' pending case against Libya, Crowell & Moring “pursued recovery under the Claims Settlement Agreement for all JPA Parties eligible to make claims under it, including the Davés.” LG's Arbitration Mot. at ¶ 15.

In July 2009, the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission awarded Gargi Davé money for a claim that Crowell & Moring had submitted to it. See LG's Arbitration Mot., Ex. C (Decl. of Clifton Elgarten), ¶ 2. And in November 2009, Crowell & Moring notified Gargi Davé that her award had “been certified for payment by the United States Department of Treasury,” and therefore the firm expected that “Treasury will soon be contacting both you and our firm to arrange for a method of payment of this award.” Id. at ¶ 3 (internal quotation marks omitted). Pursuant to the terms of the JPA, Crowell & Moring “provided Ms. Davé with a form of directive to the Treasury Department that she could use to direct payment of the funds to [Crowell & Moring's IOLTA] account.” Id. at ¶ 15.

Gargi Davé, however, never returned the executed documents to the firm. See id. Instead, she, along with her sister Giatri Davé, filed a declaratory judgment action in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, requesting that, to the extent the JPA required them to share their Foreign Claims Settlement Commission awards with the other parties to the JPA, the Agreement be found unenforceable due to fraud, unconscionability, and the fact that it conflicts “with the terms, intent and policies of the United States under the” Claims Settlement Agreement, Libyan Claims Resolution Act, and Executive Order 13,477. Davés' Cal. Compl. at ¶ 17. They also raised several common law contract and tort claims against the LG and Crowell & Moring. The...