Forum Non Conveniens
Conflicts of Laws
Dismissal
Jurisdiction
Enforcement of
Judgments
Fresh Results, an American company, arranged
bulk shipments of blueberries for ASF Holland, a Dutch company that repacks
wholesale produce to sell to European customers.
ASF Holland created reports about the results of
its inspection of the shipments, and those reports determined the final price
it paid for the blueberries. Fresh Results filed a complaint against ASF
Holland in the Southern District of Florida, alleging that it had falsified the
reports and fraudulently deflated the price. ASF Holland moved to dismiss the
complaint on the ground that the Netherlands was a more convenient forum for
the suit, and the district court agreed.
Because we agree that the district court abused
its discretion when it failed to consider the relevant public factors and
committed two errors in its analysis of the private factors, we vacate and
remand.
(…) During the second season, one of the growers
hired an auditor to make an unannounced inspection of a blueberry shipment at
ASF Holland’s facility in the Netherlands. The auditor allegedly discovered
that the blueberries were still in their original freight package, even though
ASF Holland had reported to Fresh Results that the shipment had been inspected,
sorted, and repacked. After learning of the auditor’s inspection, Fresh Results
demanded that ASF Holland pay the market price for each shipment of blueberries
it had received, but ASF Holland refused.
Fresh Results filed a complaint, which it later
amended, against ASF Holland in the Southern District of Florida. Fresh Results
asserted claims of breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, fraud, conversion,
and tortious interference with its business relationship with the growers. It
alleged that ASF Holland fraudulently promised a high reference price but then
deflated the actual price it paid by sending false reports. According to Fresh
Results, ASF Holland manipulated the price by understating the amount paid by
its European customers and by falsely inflating its expenses in the reports.
ASF Holland informed the district court that it would pursue counterclaims
against Fresh Results for sending substandard blueberries.
ASF Holland then moved to dismiss the complaint
for failure to state a claim and forum non conveniens.
Because “the forum non conveniens determination
is committed to the sound discretion of the trial court,” we review for abuse
of discretion.
The second part of the forum non conveniens analysis—the balancing of the private and public factors—is a “comparative inquiry that requires the district court to weigh the ‘relative’ advantages and disadvantages of each respective forum.” The private factors “pertain to the interests of the participants in the litigation.” One of these factors is “the relative ease of access to sources of proof,” which includes the “availability of compulsory process for attendance of unwilling, and the cost of obtaining attendance of willing, witnesses.” Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, 330 U.S. 501, 508 (1947); see also Piper Aircraft, 454 U.S. at 241 n.6. Other factors are the “possibility of view of premises, if view would be appropriate to the action” and the enforceability of a judgment, if one is obtained, Gulf Oil, 330 U.S. at 508. And a court may consider “all other practical problems that make trial of a case easy, expeditious and inexpensive.” Id. The public factors “pertain to the relative interests of the two fora.” Tazoe, 631 F.3d at 1333. Among other things, the public factors consider “the administrative difficulties flowing from court congestion,” “the ‘local interest in having localized controversies decided at home,’” and “the unfairness of burdening citizens in an unrelated forum with jury duty.” Piper Aircraft, 454 U.S. at 241 n.6 (quoting Gulf Oil, 330 U.S. at 509). A court may also consider what law will govern the action, including “the avoidance of unnecessary problems in conflicts of laws” and “the application of foreign law.” Id.
Fresh Results argues that the
district court abused its discretion when it failed to consider all relevant
public factors after concluding that the private factors were not in equipoise.
The equipoise standard employed by the district court comes from dicta in our
caselaw. Although our holdings are precedential, our dicta are not. See
United States v. Caraballo-Martinez, 866 F.3d 1233, 1244 (11th Cir. 2017).
Dicta refer to “those portions of an opinion that are not necessary to deciding
the case then before us.” Id. In contrast, our holdings “constitute the
precedent, as a point necessarily decided” in that case. Bryan A. Garner et
al., The Law of Judicial Precedent § 4, at 44 (2016); accord Powell
v. Thomas, 643 F.3d 1300, 1304–05 (11th Cir. 2011) (explaining that “a
holding is comprised both of the result of the case and those portions of the
opinion necessary to that result by which we are bound”). And we have explained
that, “regardless of what a court says in its opinion, the decision can hold
nothing beyond the facts of that case.” Edwards v. Prime, Inc., 602 F.3d
1276, 1298 (11th Cir. 2010).
(…) We clarified that the public
factors do not “enter the equation only when the private interest factors are
at or near equipoise.” Leon, 251 F.3d at 1311. Although “the private
factors are generally considered more important than the public factors,” we
explained that the public factors are not superfluous, even when the private
factors are far from equipoise. Id. And we opined that “the better rule is to consider both factors
in all cases,” which “has been our approach in recent cases.” Id.; see
also SME Racks, Inc. v. Sistemas Mecanicos Para Electronica, S.A., 382 F.3d
1097, 1100 n.5 (11th Cir. 2004) (“We have clarified that . . . courts should
consider both public and private factors in all cases.”)
(…) Enforcement of Judgments,
U.S. Dep’t of State,
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