Sinochem International v. Malaysia International Shipping
Issues
Whether the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania erred in dismissing this suit on the ground of forum non conveniens before conclusively establishing personal jurisdiction.
The forum non conveniens motion asks a court to dismiss a pending case so that the dispute may be pursued in a different, more appropriate forum. This option is increasingly popular in cases where the defendant wishes to move the case from the courts of one nation to another. In this case, a shipment from the United States to China went awry, and the parties pursued litigation in both Chinese and American courts. In one of the suits, a federal district court granted a forum non conveniensmotion, although it had not conclusively established that it had jursidiction over the parties. If the Supreme Court reasons that a forum non conveniens motion may be resolved before jurisdiction is determined, then litigants will benefit from expedient court decisions in appropriate forums. However, if the Court finds that a lower court may not dismiss on the ground of forum non conveniens before conclusively establishing jurisdiction, then litigants will be faced with the potential of lengthy proceedings in inappropriate forums. The Court's decision in this case will thus affect parties involved in duplicative litigation.
Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties
Whether a district court must first conclusively establish jurisdiction before dismissing a suit on the ground of forum non conveniens.
In 2003, a Chinese company called Sinochem contracted with an American company called Triorient Trading Inc. ("Triorient") for the purchase of a large quantity of steel coils to be loaded for shipment to China by April 30, 2003. Pursuant to the contract, Sinochem opened a letter of credit with its bank in China to provide security to Triorient. In addition, Triorient would get paid only once a valid bill of lading stating that the coils had been loaded was issued.