In re Pirelli Tire, L.L.C.

• Decision Date: 02 November 2007
• Docket Number: No. 04-1129.,04-1129.
• Citation: 247 S.W.3d 670
• Parties: In re PIRELLI TIRE, L.L.C., Relator.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

247 S.W.3d 670

In re PIRELLI TIRE, L.L.C., Relator.

No. 04-1129.

Supreme Court of Texas.

Argued November 29, 2005.

Decided November 2, 2007.

Rehearing Denied March 28, 2008.

Debora B. Alsup, Gretchen Scardino, Thompson & Knight, LLP, Austin, C. Vernon Hartline Jr., Scott G. Edwards, J. Gregory Whitten, Hartline, Darcus, Barger, Dreyer & Kern, Dallas, Eduardo R. Rodriguez, Joseph A. Rodriguez, Rodriguez, Colvin, Chaney & Saenz, L.L.P., Brownsville, TX, for Relator.

Victor M. Carrara, Law Office of Victor M. Carrera, P.C., Edinburg, TX, for Real Party In Interest.

Craig A. Morgan, Attorney At Law, Wade Caven Crosnoe, Thompson, Coe, Cousins & Irons, L.L.P., Austin, TX, for Amicus Curiae.

Justice O'NEILL announced the Court's disposition and delivered an opinion joined by Justice HECHT, Justice BRISTER, and Justice MEDINA.

In this case, we consider the limits of a trial court's broad discretion when deciding whether to dismiss on forum-non-conveniens grounds an action brought by a claimant who is not a legal resident of the United States. We conclude that, though by its terms the forum-non-conveniens statute is permissive, the deference it affords trial courts is not without bounds. As with other discretionary rulings, a trial court abuses its discretion if its forum-non-conveniens ruling is arbitrary, unreasonable, and without reference to guiding principles. In this case, absent any significant connection between the incident and the Texas forum, and considering the private and public interests involved, we hold that the trial court clearly abused its discretion in denying the defendant's motion to dismiss based on forum non conveniens.

I. Background

Valentin Hernandez Aran and Juan Benitez Mendoza, both Mexican citizens, were transporting a heavy load of seafood in a fourteen-year-old GMC pickup on a Mexican highway when the truck rolled over, killing Aran. The accident report filed by the Mexican police indicates that Aran was driving, but in light of evidence indicating Aran did not know how to drive the parties speculate that Mendoza, who was not present when the police arrived, may have been driving the truck when it rolled over and subsequently fled the scene. According to the report, the truck was speeding on a level two-lane road when the right rear tire failed and the truck rolled over.

R. Garza Motors of Brownsville, Texas, purchased the truck two years before the accident at an auction in Arkansas. Eleven days after the purchase, Garza Motors in Cameron County sold the truck to a Mexican citizen, who imported it into Mexico the same day. The truck was used, maintained, and serviced in Mexico from the time it was sold by Garza Motors until the date of the accident. The tire which allegedly failed was manufactured by Pirelli Tire in Des Moines, Iowa, in March 1994. Pirelli is incorporated in Delaware, and its principal place of business is Georgia.

In March 2003, Aran's wife, Maria Magdalena Meza Aran, his son, Damian Hernandez Meza, and later his mother, Felipa Aran Limas (collectively "the Arans"), all citizens of Mexico, sued Pirelli in Cameron County. They alleged that Pirelli negligently designed and manufactured the tire, and also asserted strict liability claims.¹ Less than a month later, Pirelli filed its Original Answer, as well as a Motion to Dismiss on Grounds of Forum Non Conveniens. In March 2004, Pirelli filed an expanded Motion to Dismiss on Grounds of Forum Non Conveniens and a Motion to Apply the Law of Mexico. The trial court denied Pirelli's motions, and the court of appeals denied mandamus relief. We granted oral argument on Pirelli's Petition for Writ of Mandamus to consider the parameters of the trial court's discretion in deciding the dismissal motion.

II. Timeliness of Pirelli's Motion

As a threshold matter, the Arans contend the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion to dismiss because Pirelli's motion was untimely under subsection (d) of the forum-nonconveniens statute, section 71.051 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code,² enacted by Act of May 29, 1997, 75th Leg., R.S., ch. 424, § 1, 1997 Tex. Gen. Laws 1680, 1680. Under that provision, a request for a stay or dismissal on forum-non-conveniens grounds must be filed within 180 days of the time for filing a motion to transfer venue. The Arans acknowledge that Pirelli filed a motion to dismiss concurrently with its answer, but they maintain that motion was inadequate because it consisted of only three paragraphs and contemplated that Pirelli would later file a supplemental brief more fully explaining Pirelli's contentions. In contesting the timeliness of Pirelli's motion, the Arans focus solely on the expanded motion to dismiss that Pirelli filed in February 2004, well after the time allowed under section 71.051(d) had expired.

We disagree that Pirelli's motion to dismiss was untimely. It is undisputed that Pirelli apprised the trial court of its claim that Cameron County was an inappropriate forum within the time allowed under section 71.051(d). Pirelli's original dismissal motion contended Cameron County had no connection with the accident, Mexico was a more appropriate forum, Mexican law provided the Arans an adequate remedy, and the balance of public and private interests weighed in favor of dismissal. Pirelli's second motion merely expanded on those contentions and identified specific events and circumstances supporting them. That Pirelli later supplemented its initial argument is entirely consistent with section 71.051(d), which allows a trial court to rule on a forum-non-conveniens motion only after a hearing with at least twenty-one days' notice to the parties. The statute further requires the court to provide the parties "ample opportunity" to obtain discovery relevant to the motion prior to the hearing. Thus, the statute contemplates that a motion may be filed and then supplemented in light of discovery. Pirelli's motion was not untimely.

III. The Forum-Non-Conveniens Statute

A. Trial Court Discretion

Section 71.051 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code governs motions to dismiss based on forum non conveniens. Subsection (a) governs suits, like this one, brought by claimants who are not legal residents of the United States. It provides:

With respect to a plaintiff who is not a legal resident of the United States, if a court of this state, on written motion of a party, finds that in the interest of justice a claim or action to which this section applies would be more properly heard in a forum outside this state, the court may decline to exercise jurisdiction under the doctrine of forum non conveniens and may stay or dismiss the claim or action in whole or in part on any conditions that may be just.

TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.CODE § 71.051(a).

Pirelli contends a trial court's discretion to dismiss on forum-non-conveniens grounds "in the interest of justice" is not unfettered. Citing our decision in In re Smith Barney, 975 S.W.2d 593, 598 (Tex. 1998), Pirelli argues dismissal is warranted when an action has no significant connection with Texas. Pirelli further contends that the factors listed in section 71.051(b) of the forum-non-conveniens statute, which apply to cases brought by claimants who are legal residents of the United States, should guide a court in determining whether a case will be dismissed under subsection (a). Those factors are whether:

(1) an alternate forum exists in which the claim or action may be tried;

(2) the alternate forum provides an adequate remedy;

(3) maintenance of the claim or action in the courts of this state would work a substantial injustice to the moving party;

(4) the alternate forum, as a result of the submission of the parties or otherwise, can exercise jurisdiction over all the defendants properly joined to the plaintiff's claim;

(5) the balance of the private interests of the parties and the public interest of the state predominate in favor of the claim or action being brought in an alternate forum; and

(6) the stay or dismissal would not result in unreasonable duplication or proliferation of litigation.

TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.CODE § 71.051(b).³

The Arans, on the other hand, contend section 71.051(a) confers virtually unlimited discretion on the trial court to decide whether a motion to dismiss should be granted on forum-non-conveniens grounds because the trial court's authority is described in permissive terms. According to the Arans, a reviewing court may reverse a decision denying a motion to dismiss under section 71.051(a) only if the underlying suit has no connection with the forum whatsoever. Because the truck involved in this case was in Texas for eleven days and was sold here, the Arans contend, we have no choice but to sustain the trial court's decision. We disagree.

While application of the forum-non-conveniens doctrine is now codified in Texas, the doctrine has deep roots in the common law. As in section 71.051(a), the common-law doctrine permitted a court possessing jurisdiction over a dispute to decline to exercise it when, "`for the convenience of the litigants and witnesses and in the interest of justice, the action should be instituted in another forum.'" Exxon Corp. v. Choo, 881 S.W.2d 301, 302 n. 2 (Tex.1994) (quoting Sarieddine v. Moussa, 820 S.W.2d 837, 839-40 (Tex.App.-Dallas 1991, writ denied)). The doctrine of forum non conveniens has always afforded great deference to the plaintiff's forum choice. Flaiz v. Moore, 359 S.W.2d 872, 874 (Tex.1962) (citing Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, 330 U.S. 501, 508, 67 S.Ct. 839, 91 L.Ed. 1055 (1947)). But the doctrine also recognizes that the plaintiff's choice must sometimes yield in the public interest, and in the interest of fundamental fairness. Id. Further, forum-non-conveniens doctrine generally affords substantially less deference to a nonresident's forum choice. Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno, 454 U.S. 235, 255-56, 102 S.Ct. 252, 70 L.Ed.2d 419 (1981); see Owens...