In re Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc.

• Decision Date: 24 August 2005
• Docket Number: No. 04-1827.,04-1827.
• Citation: 420 F.3d 702
• Parties: In re: BRIDGESTONE/FIRESTONE, INC., Tires Product Liability Action.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

420 F.3d 702

In re: BRIDGESTONE/FIRESTONE, INC., Tires Product Liability Action.

No. 04-1827.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued December 10, 2004.

Decided August 24, 2005.

Kevin Dubose (argued), Alexander, Dubose, Jones & Townsend, Houston, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Colin P. Smith, Holland & Knight, Chicago, IL, Craig A. Morgan (argued), Austin, TX, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before RIPPLE, MANION, and WOOD, Circuit Judges.

WOOD, Circuit Judge.

José Samuel Mañez-Reyes, a Mexican soccer professional of some note, died on the day after Christmas, 2002, when his Ford Explorer rolled over in Veracruz, Mexico. His family sued the Ford Motor Company and Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., in Val Verde County, Texas, alleging that a defect in one of the Explorer's Firestone tires caused the accident. After being removed to the Western District of Texas, the case was transferred to the Southern District of Indiana, joining the over 700 cases that are part of the Bridgestone/Firestone Multidistrict Litigation (MDL). In February 2004, the district court granted in part and denied in part the defendants' forum non conveniens motion, which sought to dismiss the four cases stemming from accidents that occurred in Mexico. The court determined that the three accidents involving U.S. resident plaintiffs should be litigated in the United States, while the one complaint involving a Mexican resident, the Mañez-Reyes case, should be litigated in Mexico. The Mañez-Reyes family appealed. In light of some potentially relevant intervening events, we remand to the district court for further findings.

I

The common law doctrine of forum non conveniens allows a trial court to "dismiss a suit over which it would normally have jurisdiction if it best serves the convenience of the parties and the ends of justice." Kamel v. Hill-Rom Co., Inc., 108 F.3d 799, 802 (7th Cir.1997). Before a court should grant a defendant's motion, the plaintiff's chosen forum must be "oppressive and vexatious to the defendant, out of all proportion to the plaintiff's convenience." In re Ford Motor Co., 344 F.3d 648, 651 (7th Cir.2003) (citing Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno, 454 U.S. 235, 241, 102 S.Ct. 252, 70 L.Ed.2d 419 (1981)). The district court should not deem itself inconvenient, however, unless the defendant is able to identify an adequate alternative forum. See Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, 330 U.S. 501, 506-07, 67 S.Ct. 839, 91 L.Ed. 1055 (1947) (noting that the doctrine of forum non conveniens "presupposes at least two forums in which the defendant is amenable to process"). After all, it is tough to argue that the present forum—which by definition has both subject matter jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction over all parties—is "out of all proportion to plaintiff's convenience," when the plaintiff has no other options. Assessing whether an alternative forum exists involves a two-part inquiry: availability and adequacy. Kamel, 108 F.3d at 802. A forum is "available" if "all parties are amenable to process and are within the forum's jurisdiction." Id. at 803 (citing Piper, 454 U.S. at 254 n. 22, 102 S.Ct. 252). A forum is "adequate" if "the parties will not be deprived of all remedies or treated unfairly." Id.

If an adequate alternative forum is available, the court decides whether to keep or dismiss the case by weighing various private and public interest factors. See, e.g., In re Ford Motor Co., 344 F.3d at 651. The private interest factors include "the relative ease of access to sources of proof; availability of compulsory process for attendance of unwilling, and the cost of obtaining attendance of willing, witnesses; possibility of view of premises, if view would be appropriate to the action; and all other practical problems that make trial of a case easy, expeditious and inexpensive." Gulf Oil Corp., 330 U.S. at 508, 67 S.Ct. 839. Among the public interest factors are "the administrative difficulties stemming from court congestion; the local interest in having localized disputes decided at home; the interest in having the trial of a diversity case in a forum that is at home with the law that must govern the action; the avoidance of unnecessary problems in conflicts of laws or in the application of foreign law; and the unfairness of burdening citizens in an unrelated forum with jury duty." Kamel, 108 F.3d at 803 (citing Piper Aircraft, 454 U.S. at 241 n. 6, 102 S.Ct. 252). "[U]nless the balance is strongly in favor of the defendant, the plaintiff's choice of forum should rarely be disturbed." Gulf Oil Corp., 330 U.S. at 508, 67 S.Ct. 839.

Initially (an important qualification, as we are about to see), the parties agreed that Mexico was an adequate and available alternative forum. The plaintiffs' opening brief addressed only the district court's balancing of the private and public interest factors. On this ground, the plaintiffs argued that although a foreign plaintiff's choice of forum deserves less deference than the choice made by a U.S. citizen or resident, see Kamel, 108 F.3d at 803, the court's decision to dismiss their case because they are Mexican citizens and residents was capricious and unfair. We do not approach the district court's decision to dismiss on a clean slate, however. To rule in favor of the Mañez-Reyes family, we would have to conclude that the district court's analysis of the private and public interest factors constituted an abuse of discretion. See Piper Aircraft, 454 U.S. at 257, 102 S.Ct. 252 ("The forum non conveniens determination is committed to the sound discretion of the trial court."). On the state of the record as it was before the district court, it would be impossible for us to come to that conclusion. Indeed, from that perspective, the court's decision to hinge its forum non conveniens determination on the residence of the plaintiff was quite reasonable.

The MDL is now in its final stages and most of the collective, U.S.-specific information has already been established. Discovery concerning the design and manufacture of the tires ended in 2002 and thus most of the evidence that remains to be collected concerns the particulars of each individual accident. Accident-specific evidence is likely to be found near where the accident occurred or near where the plaintiff resides. In this case, both the residence of the plaintiffs and the location of the accident is Mexico. José Mañez-Reyes's medical, employment, vehicle, and tax records are in Mexico, as is evidence of the family's pain and suffering.

The public interest factors also support the soundness of the district court's decision. The court did not have sufficient evidence to enable it to assess the congestion of Mexican courts, but given the overwhelming docket now being carried by the district courts in Texas, the judge concluded that this factor would be a wash at best. The parties have offered nothing to disrupt this conclusion. As for the respective local interests, the court noted that while the United States has an interest in regulating domestic companies, its interest is matched by Mexico's interest in regulating the use of allegedly defective products within its borders. Mexico also has an interest in protecting the health and safety of its residents. As for pressing jurors into service, the citizens of the Western District of Texas have no connection to the Mañez-Reyes accident. The family does not reside there, the accident did not occur there, and the tires at issue were neither designed nor manufactured there.

II

Given the reasonableness of the court's conclusion and particularly given the abuse of discretion standard of review we apply to forum non conveniens decisions, this case looks like an easy candidate for a straightforward affirmance. But there is a wrinkle. The parties notified this court that while this appeal was pending, the Mañez-Reyes family sued Bridgestone/Firestone and Ford in the Fourth Court of First Instance for Civil Cases of the First Judicial District in Morelos, Mexico. That court determined that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the case, a ruling "confirmed" by the Auxiliary Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the State of...