Case Dismissed Based On Forum Non Conveniens Where No Connection To The United States
MARTHA A. DOWNS CALLASSO, as Personal Representative of theEstate of William Seaman Smith, Plaintiff, vs. MORTON & CO., NICARAGUA LINECO., and ARIANE SHIPPING CORP., LTD., Defendants.
Case No. 03-21136-CIV-MOORE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11205
June 15, 2004, Decided
June 15, 2004, Filed
PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiff, a personal representative of a decedent, sued defendants, a vessel owner, the vessel's technical manager, and a charter corporation, alleging wrongful death under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C.S. app. § 688 et seq., unseaworthiness based on general maritime law, and for negligence and unseaworthiness under the Death on High Seas Act, 46 U.S.C.S. app. § 761 et seq. The owner and manager moved to dismiss based on forum non conveniens.
OVERVIEW: The owner and manager claimed that the representative was collaterally estopped from challenging a previous state court order dismissing the representative's claims based upon forum non conveniens. The court initially held that the representative was barred by the doctrine of collateral estoppel from challenging the legal and factual findings of the state court order. The court then held that the owner and manager did not have sufficient contacts with the United States (U.S.) because the decedent's fatal accident occurred on the vessel docked in Nicaragua, the vessel was an Antiguan flagged ship, neither the decedent nor the representative were U.S. citizens, the owner was not registered to do business in the forum, the place of contract was Nicaragua, and Nicaragua was an accessible forum. The court further held that the representative failed to show that Nicaragua was an inadequate forum because the owner and manager consented to jurisdiction of the Nicaraguan courts, satisfactory remedies were available to the representative, the private and public interest factors weighed in favor of a Nicaraguan forum, and Nicaraguan law would most likely have to be applied to decide the case.
OUTCOME: The motion to dismiss under the doctrine of forum non conveniens was granted. The motion to dismiss under the doctrines of abstention and res judicata was denied as moot.
