Vasquez v. Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc.

• Decision Date: 04 April 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-40053.,No. 01-41161.,01-41161.,02-40053.
• Citation: 325 F.3d 665
• Parties: Maria O. VASQUEZ, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, Alejandra Marlen R. Deluna, Intervenor Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BRIDGESTONE/FIRESTONE, INC., et al., Defendants-Intervenor Defendants-Appellees. Maria O. Vasquez, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, Alejandra Marlen R. Deluna, Intervenor Plaintiff-Appellant, Dana R. Allison, et al., Appellants, v. Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

325 F.3d 665

Maria O. VASQUEZ, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, Alejandra Marlen R. Deluna, Intervenor Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BRIDGESTONE/FIRESTONE, INC., et al., Defendants-Intervenor Defendants-Appellees.

Maria O. Vasquez, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, Alejandra Marlen R. Deluna, Intervenor Plaintiff-Appellant, Dana R. Allison, et al., Appellants, v. Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 01-41161.

No. 02-40053.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

April 4, 2003.

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Roger W. Hughes (argued), Adams & Graham, Harlingen, TX, for Vasquez parties, Davila, Lara, De Villegran, Trevino and Juarez parties.

George Edmond Chandler, Chandler Law Firm, Lufkin, TX, for Vasquez parties, Davila, Lara, De Villegran, Trevino and LeLuna.

Edmundo O. Ramirez, Lawrence C. Morgan, Ellis, Koeneke & Ramirez, McAllen, TX, for Deluna.

Knox D. Nunnally, Marie Roach Yeates (argued), Morgan L. Copeland, Jr., Vinson & Elkins, Houston, TX, Spikes Kangerga, Vinson & Elkins, Austin, TX, for Bridgestone/Firestone Inc.

Kyle Harold Dreyer, Sean Roger Fitzgibbons (argued), Deron L. Wade, Hartline, Dacus, Dreyer & Kern, Dallas, TX, for General Motors Corp.

F. Edward Barker, Margery Huston (argued), Barker, Leon, Fancher & Matthys, Corpus Christi, TX, for Lucent Technologies Inc. and Lucent Technologies Maquiladoras Inc.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Before GARWOOD, SMITH and BARKSDALE, Circuit Judges.

JERRY E. SMITH, Circuit Judge:

Car crash victims' survivors sued the tire manufacturer and other defendants in state court. After defendants removed to federal court, the district court dismissed on grounds of forum non conveniens ("f.n.c."), finding Mexico to be the more convenient forum. The court also enjoined plaintiffs from pursuing any claim against defendants in Texas state court or federal court. We vacate the f.n.c. dismissal so that a return jurisdiction clause may be added, and we order that the injunction be modified to conform to the Anti-Injunction Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2283. The dismissal and injunction are otherwise free of error.

I.

This action arises from an automobile accident in the state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, that killed six passengers, all Mexican citizens. Plaintiffs and intervenors, who are family members of the decedents, allege that the vehicle and one of its tires were defective, that the vehicle was improperly maintained, and that the driver was careless. Plaintiffs first filed wrongful death and survival claims against defendants Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. ("Bridgestone"), General Motors Corporation ("General Motors"), Lucent Technologies, Inc., and Lucent Technologies Maquiladoras, Inc.,¹ in federal district court in Brownsville, Texas ("Vasquez I"). That suit was dismissed for lack of diversity jurisdiction.

The instant case ("Vasquez II") was filed in Orange County, Texas, and removed to federal district court in Beaumont, Texas. That court dismissed on grounds of f.n.c., concluding that the dispute should be heard in Mexico. The location of the accident, the sources of proof, plaintiffs' home, and the lack of local interest were factors that the court found favored Mexico. The court also determined that Mexican law would govern. The court dismissed with prejudice, noting in its memorandum opinion that "[a] judgment of dismissal under forum non conveniens here should act to preclude a future lawsuit brought elsewhere in this country."

Before the court dismissed Vasquez II, plaintiffs filed a separate state court suit in Cameron County, Texas ("Vasquez III"). They initially were represented by different counsel before the dismissal of Vasquez II; at that time, counsel of record filed an amended petition and a petition in intervention on plaintiffs' behalf. Vasquez III was removed to federal court and ultimately dismissed by stipulation.²

Following the f.n.c. dismissal in Vasquez II, plaintiffs also sued in Webb County, Texas. This suit, Vasquez IV, named five defendants not named in the three previous suits: Bridgestone Corporation, Bridgestone/Firestone de Mexico, S.A., Rudolph Miles and Sons, Inc., Dicex International, Inc., and the driver of the vehicle, Villanueva. Vasquez IV also included two new plaintiffs, the parents of one of the deceased crash victims, Ivonne Juarez. After defendants removed Vasquez IV to federal court, the Vasquez II court sua sponte issued a temporary restraining order barring plaintiffs and their attorneys from arguing their pending motion to remand and from prosecuting any new suits.

The Vasquez II court later issued a permanent injunction that prohibited

plaintiffs, their attorneys, their agents, and all persons acting on behalf of plaintiffs, or in concert with any and all of the plaintiffs or their attorneys from prosecuting, filing, or pursuing any suit or case or cause of action against the defendants herein in any district court of the State of Texas, and any United States District Court in the State of Texas against the said movants.

The court reasoned that the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a), permitted it to protect the finality of its f.n.c. dismissal. Plaintiffs argue that the injunction violates the Anti-Injunction Act, specifically that it does not fall under the Act's relitigation exception. This appeal consolidates plaintiffs' challenge to the Vasquez II court's dismissal and the permanent injunction.

II.

Federal courts apply the federal version of f.n.c. in resolving a motion to dismiss where the alternative forum is a foreign tribunal. De Aguilar v. Boeing Co., 11 F.3d 55, 58 (5th Cir.1993). We review an f.n.c. dismissal for abuse of discretion. Gonzalez v. Chrysler Corp., 301 F.3d 377, 379 (5th Cir.2002), petition for cert. filed, 71 U.S.L.W. 3489 (Jan. 7, 2003) (No. 02-1044). To obtain an f.n.c. dismissal, a party must demonstrate (1) the existence of an available and adequate alternative forum and (2) that the balance of relevant private and public interest factors favor dismissal. Alpine View Co. v. Atlas Copco AB, 205 F.3d 208, 221-22 (5th Cir.2000). Under federal f.n.c. principles, the court properly found that Mexico is the more convenient forum.

A.

An alternative forum is considered available if the entire case and all parties can come within its jurisdiction.³ The district court found that defendants' stipulation to submit to a Mexican court's jurisdiction in the state of Nuevo Leon made Mexico an available forum. Plaintiffs now argue that because Mexican federal law provides greater damages than does the law of Nuevo Leon, defendants should have been required to submit to the jurisdiction of a Mexican federal court in Mexico City. Forum availability and adequacy are separate inquiries, however, so we reject plaintiffs' attempt to bootstrap the two. Indeed, plaintiffs do not dispute that an available Mexican forum exists in the courts of Nuevo Leon.

An alternative forum is adequate if "the parties will not be deprived of all remedies or treated unfairly, even though they may not enjoy the same benefits as they might receive in an American court." Gonzalez, 301 F.3d at 379-80 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). In Gonzalez, we rejected the plaintiffs' contention that a foreign jurisdiction's decision to limit damages and limit the availability of strict liability—even to the point at which the lawsuit ceases to become economically viable—somehow renders that jurisdiction inadequate. Id. at 381. Importantly, Gonzalez also involved Mexican plaintiffs suing an American vehicle manufacturer over a car accident in Mexico. Id. at 383. The fact that Mexico provides a wrongful death cause of action, albeit with severe damage caps,⁴ makes the country an adequate forum. Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno, 454 U.S. 235, 255, 102 S.Ct. 252, 70 L.Ed.2d 419 (1981).

B.

Once a court determines that there is an adequate alternative forum, it must balance the relevant private and public interest factors. Id. at 254-55. Private interest factors include

the relative ease of access to sources of proof; the availability of compulsory process for attendance of unwilling, and the cost of obtaining attendance of willing, witnesses; the 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.

McLennan v. Am. Eurocopter Corp., Inc., 245 F.3d 403, 424 (5th Cir.2001) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). In Piper, the Court stated that "there is ordinarily a strong presumption in favor of the plaintiff's choice of forum, which may be overcome only when the private and public factors clearly point towards trial in the alternative forum." 454 U.S. at 255, 102 S.Ct. 252. Still, the district court determined, consistently with Piper, that because plaintiffs are residents of a foreign country, their forum choice should be accorded less deference. Id. at 255-56.

Plaintiffs contend the court erred, because a treaty between the United States and Mexico, the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, entitles Mexican plaintiffs to the same deference as American citizens, only with the understanding that suing in the United States may be less convenient.⁵ Article 14(1) of the treaty states, inter alia: "All persons shall be equal before the courts and tribunals. In the determination of ... rights and obligations in a suit at law, everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent, and impartial tribunal."⁶ We need not decide this issue, however, because the private and public factors "clearly point towards" trial in Mexico.⁷ Piper, 454 U.S. at 255, 102 S.Ct. 252.

Analyzing the private factors, the court correctly determined that trial should be held in Mexico. The court emphasized that plaintiffs, the driver of the vehicle, and all...