Mujica v. AirScan, Inc., No. 10-55515 (9th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs, citizens and former residents of Colombia, filed suit in California against two corporations, both headquartered in the United States, for their alleged complicity in the 1998 bombing of a Colombian village by members of the Colombian Air Force (CAF). The district court dismissed all claims under the political question doctrine. The court held that plaintiffs lack a valid claim under either the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA), 28 U.S.C. 1350 Note., pursuant to Mohamad v. Palestinan Auth., or the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), 28 U.S.C. 1350, under Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co.; the court affirmed the district court's judgment of dismissal with respect to plaintiffs' state-law claims, but did so on the ground of international comity; the district court abused its discretion by applying the incorrect legal standard in its comity analysis when it erroneously concluded that a "true conflict" between domestic and foreign law is required for the application of international comity in all circumstances; and, in light of Mujica IV, the court concluded that the state-law claims before the court are not justiciable under the doctrine of international comity.
Court Description: Torture Victims Protection Act / Alien Tort Statute /. Comity The panel affirmed the dismissal, on remand, of an action brought under the Torture Victims Protection Act, the Alien Tort Statute, and California state law, alleging that two U.S.- headquartered corporations, Occidental Petroleum and AirScan, were complicit in the 1998 bombing of a Colombian village by members of the Colombian Air Force. The panel held that plaintiffs’ notice of appeal was not untimely because after the district court issued its ruling on limited remand, the case returned to the Court of Appeals, which continued to have jurisdiction under plaintiffs’ original notice of appeal. The panel held that pursuant to Mohamad v. Palestinian Auth., 132 S. Ct. 1702 (2012), plaintiffs lacked a viable claim under the TVPA because defendants were corporations rather than natural persons. The panel held that pursuant to Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., 133 S. Ct. 1659 (2013), plaintiffs lacked a viable claim under the ATS because they did not rebut the presumption against extraterritorial application of the statute by alleging that defendants were U.S. corporations and that actions or decisions furthering the purported conspiracy between defendants and the Colombian Air Force took place in the United States. The panel declined to remand the case for amendment of the complaint in light of Kiobel. Disagreeing with the district court, the panel held that plaintiffs’ state-law claims must be dismissed on the ground of international comity. Interpreting Hartford Fire Ins. Co. v. Cal., 509 U.S. 764 (1993), the panel held that adjudicatory comity, which involves discretionary deference in declining to exercise jurisdiction over a case properly adjudicated in a foreign state, does not require a “true conflict” between domestic and foreign law. The panel concluded that in light of a State Department Statement of Interest and an amicus brief filed by the United States, the United States’ interest in having the case adjudicated exclusively in Colombia was strong. The panel held that because of the strength of the U.S. government’s interest in respecting Colombia’s judicial process, the weakness of California’s interest in the case, the strength of Colombia’s interests in serving as an exclusive forum, and the adequacy of the Colombian courts as an alternative forum, plaintiffs’ state-law claims were nonjusticiable under the doctrine of international comity. District Judge Zilly concurred in part and dissented in part. He concurred with the majority’s conclusion that plaintiffs’ claim under the TVPA was properly dismissed. Dissenting from the majority’s holding that plaintiffs’ lacked a viable claim under the ATS, he wrote that Kiobel did not require “conduct” that occurred within the United States, and that plaintiffs should be allowed to amend their complaint. Judge Zilly also dissented from the majority’s holding that international comity barred adjudication of plaintiffs’ state law claims.
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