Compania De Inversiones Mercantiles S.A. v. Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua S.A.B. de C.V.

CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedSeptember 10, 2021
Docket1:15-cv-02120
StatusUnknown

This text of Compania De Inversiones Mercantiles S.A. v. Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua S.A.B. de C.V. (Compania De Inversiones Mercantiles S.A. v. Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua S.A.B. de C.V.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Compania De Inversiones Mercantiles S.A. v. Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua S.A.B. de C.V., (D. Colo. 2021).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO

Civil Action No. 1:15-cv-02120-JLK

COMPAÑÍA DE INVERSIONES MERCANTILES S.A.,

Petitioner,

v.

GRUPO CEMENTOS DE CHIHUAHUA, S.A.B. de C.V., and GCC LATINOAMÉRICA, S.A. de C.V.,

Respondents. ______________________________________________________________________________

ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR TURNOVER ORDER (ECF NO. 124) ______________________________________________________________________________ Kane, J.

This matter is before me on the Post-Judgment Motion for Turnover Order Requiring Payment of Funds into Registry of Court (the “Turnover Motion”) (ECF No. 124) filed by Petitioner/Judgment-Creditor Compañía de Inversiones Mercantiles S.A. (“CIMSA”). On March 26, 2019, Final Judgment entered in this case in favor of CIMSA and against Respondent/Judgment-Debtors Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua, S.A.B. de C.V. (“GCC S.A.B.”) and GCC Latinoamérica, S.A. de C.V. (“GCC Latinoamérica,” collectively “GCC”) in the amount of $36,139,233 plus interest. CIMSA, a Bolivian corporation, now seeks an order requiring GCC S.A.B., a Mexican corporation, to turn over three categories of assets located in Mexico to the Registry of this Court in satisfaction of that Judgment. GCC challenges my authority to issue the requested turnover order and requests a hearing on contested issues of Mexican law.1 I find a hearing is unnecessary and grant CIMSA’s motion

1 In addition to oral argument, GCC has requested an opportunity to depose CIMSA’s Mexican law expert. Resp. to Mot. to Reopen Proceedings at 7, ECF No. 150. The parties have collectively submitted six expert declarations, comprehensively addressing the relevant issues of as to the assets controlled by GCC: publicly traded common stock held in GCC’s corporate treasury; any funds held by GCC’s wholly owned subsidiary Cementos de Chihuahua, S.A. de C.V. (“Cementos”) acting as GCC’s in-house bank; and interest payments due on nine intercompany loans to GCC subsidiaries.

I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY2 In 2005, the parties executed a shareholder’s agreement. In accordance with that agreement, any disputes were to be resolved by international arbitration and governed by the Inter-American Commercial Arbitration Commission. 2005 Agreement, cl. 29.1, ECF No. 62-2. A dispute arose under the agreement and arbitration proceedings commenced. The proceedings were bifurcated into a merits phase and a damages phase. In September 2013, a three-member arbitral tribunal (the “Tribunal”) issued an award on the merits in favor of CIMSA (the “Liability Award”). GCC challenged the liability determination through Bolivian annulment proceedings, while the Tribunal adjudicated the issue of damages. In an attempt to stay the damages phase of

the arbitration, GCC sought an injunction from a Mexican court. On December 3, 2014,3 GCC Latinoamérica4 obtained a preliminary injunction (the “Mexican Injunction”) from the

Mexican law. Given the thoroughness of those declarations and the conclusions contained in this Order, the measures requested by GCC are unnecessary. 2 The factual history of the underlying dispute and the arbitral proceedings on which it is based can be found in the Tenth Circuit’s Opinion, Compañía de Inversiones Mercantiles, S.A. v. Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua S.A.B. de C.V., 970 F.3d 1269, 1275-80 (10th Cir. 2020), and in my previous Order Denying Motion to Vacate Judgment (ECF No. 214) on pages 2 to 12. 3 Several submissions from the parties contain different dates. See, e.g., Rivera Decl. ¶ 48 (“[O]n October 8, 2014, Respondents informed the Arbitral Tribunal that they had obtained an injunction in the Judicial District of Morelos, Chihuahua, Mexico. . . .”), ECF No. 65. As the Injunction itself is clearly dated December 3, 2014, I defer to it. 4 Respondent GCC S.A.B. was not a party to the Mexican proceedings resulting in the Injunction. See Dec. 3, 2014 Mexican Injunction at 31 (original order followed by English translation), ECF No. 127-5. Provisional Eighth Judge on Civil Matters in the Judicial District of Morelos, Chihuahua, Mexico. Lozano Decl. ¶¶ 7-9, ECF No. 127-2. GCC informed the Tribunal that a Mexican court had ordered suspension of the arbitral proceedings until the Bolivian annulment proceedings concluded, but the Tribunal determined the Mexican court lacked jurisdiction to issue the

Injunction and elected to disregard it entirely. Rivera Decl. ¶ 48, ECF No. 65. The Tribunal issued a final award on damages (the “Damages Award”) in April 2015. Id. ¶ 49. Five months later, CIMSA petitioned this Court to confirm the foreign arbitral awards. Mot. to Confirm, ECF No. 1. I confirmed both arbitral awards after concluding the Liability Award had not been set aside in the Bolivian annulment proceedings and the Damages Award was binding under the New York Convention. Mem. Op. & Order at 19, 25, ECF No. 93. Judgment was entered on March 26, 2019 (“Final Judgment”). See Mar. 26, 2019 Final Judgment, ECF No. 94. Respondents appealed the Final Judgment to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. While that appeal was pending, CIMSA moved to enforce the Judgment by filing its Turnover Motion.

Through post-judgment discovery, CIMSA has identified three categories of assets that it contends GCC S.A.B. should pay into the Court Registry in satisfaction of the Final Judgment: (a) 6,205,205 of its publicly traded shares in its corporate treasury (the “GCC shares”) with an approximate value of $49,640,000 USD; (b) Cash in the amount of $10,000 Mexican pesos, held by Mexican bank Banco Ve por Más, S.A. Institución de Banca Múltiple, Grupo Financiero Ve por Más (“BX+”), as well as short-term certificates of deposits (“CDs”) held by BX+ and interest due on those certificates totaling $304,760,399 pesos, valued at approximately $15,200,000 USD, and cash in the amount of $28,716,285 pesos, held by Cementos as its “in- house bank,” valued at approximately $1,430,000 USD; and (c) Amounts owed by nine subsidiaries in the amount of $4,364,822,000 pesos (the “Intercompany Receivables”), valued at approximately $223,400,000 USD. See Mot. for Turnover at 1-2; Suppl. to Mot. for Turnover at 1-3, 7-10 (Public Entry at ECF No. 233; Restricted Doc. at ECF No. 223). In its Response to the Turnover Motion, GCC insisted that the rules permitting a turnover order do not apply extraterritorially to property in foreign countries. See Resp. to Mot. for

Turnover at 9-10, ECF No. 127. It further argued that the motion should be denied as a matter of international comity because the requested order would violate Mexican law. Id. at 7-9. Alternately, GCC urged me to stay consideration of CIMSA’s Motion until the Tenth Circuit decided the pending appeal. I agreed to the stay and also granted GCC’s Motion for Leave to File a Sur-Reply (ECF No. 140). The following month, CIMSA filed a Motion to Reopen the Proceedings Regarding its Post-Judgment Motion for Entry of a Turnover Order and for Leave to File a Supplemental Declaration (ECF No. 149). In its motion, CIMSA submitted arguments in response to GCC’s Sur-reply to the Turnover Motion, effectively submitting a Sur-sur-reply, to which GCC has responded and CIMSA has replied. On August 17, 2020, the Tenth Circuit affirmed my Order and Final Judgment. See

Compañía de Inversiones Mercantiles, S.A. v. Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua S.A.B. de C.V., 970 F.3d 1269 (10th Cir. 2020) (hereinafter Grupo Cementos). CIMSA’s Motion to Reopen Proceedings is now moot given the Tenth Circuit’s decision.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Murray v. Schooner Charming Betsy
6 U.S. 64 (Supreme Court, 1804)
Hilton v. Guyot
159 U.S. 113 (Supreme Court, 1895)
American Banana Co. v. United Fruit Co.
213 U.S. 347 (Supreme Court, 1909)
Continental Ore Co. v. Union Carbide & Carbon Corp.
370 U.S. 690 (Supreme Court, 1962)
United States v. First National City Bank
379 U.S. 378 (Supreme Court, 1965)
Hartford Fire Ins. Co. v. California
509 U.S. 764 (Supreme Court, 1993)
Peacock v. Thomas
516 U.S. 349 (Supreme Court, 1996)
Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd.
561 U.S. 247 (Supreme Court, 2010)
Benton v. Cameco Corporation
375 F.3d 1070 (Tenth Circuit, 2004)
Herman Quarles v. Fuqua Industries, Inc.
504 F.2d 1358 (Tenth Circuit, 1974)
Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co.
133 S. Ct. 1659 (Supreme Court, 2013)
AE, INC. v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
168 P.3d 507 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2007)
Isis Litigation, L.L.C. v. Svensk Filmindustri
170 P.3d 742 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2007)
RJR Nabisco, Inc. v. European Cmty.
579 U.S. 325 (Supreme Court, 2016)
Motorola Credit Corp. v. Uzan
388 F.3d 39 (Second Circuit, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Compania De Inversiones Mercantiles S.A. v. Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua S.A.B. de C.V., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/compania-de-inversiones-mercantiles-sa-v-grupo-cementos-de-chihuahua-cod-2021.