Davis International, LLC v. New Start Group Corp.

367 F. App'x 334
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedMarch 3, 2010
DocketNo. 09-2472
StatusPublished

This text of 367 F. App'x 334 (Davis International, LLC v. New Start Group Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davis International, LLC v. New Start Group Corp., 367 F. App'x 334 (3d Cir. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

DIAMOND, District Judge.

This case comes before us for the second time in the course of litigation spanning ten years and at least two continents. In Davis International, LLC v. New Start Group Corp. (Davis I), we upheld the District Court’s dismissal of Appellants’ amended complaint based on direct estop-[336]*336pel. See 488 F.3d 597 (3d Cir.2007). We also held that the District Court had jurisdiction to enjoin Appellants from refiling the same claims in another domestic court, and remanded for consideration of whether to grant such injunctive relief. Id. The District Court granted the anti-suit injunction, and denied Appellants’ motion for supplemental briefing. Appellants now appeal those decisions. We will affirm.

I.

Because we write primarily for the Parties, we will recite only the facts necessary for our analysis.

In November 2004, Appellants Davis International, LLC, Holdex, LLC, Foston Management, Ltd., and Omni Trusthouse, Ltd. filed a complaint in the Delaware Court of Chancery, including claims of federal RICO and common-law conversion. Appellants alleged that they were the victims of an international conspiracy to seize control of Kachkanarsky GOK, Russia’s largest vanadium ore plant. Appellants charge that through a combination of physical threats, bribery, and sham financial transactions, their shares in GOK were transferred in August 2000 to Delaware shell companies owned by the conspirators.

Appellants filed separate lawsuits based on these allegations in Russia, England, Belgium, and New York. The Southern District of New York dismissed the New York action on forum non conveniens grounds, holding that Russia was the appropriate forum. See Base Metal Trading S.A. v. Russian Aluminum, 253 F.Supp.2d 681 (S.D.N.Y.2003), aff'd, 98 Fed.Appx. 47 (2d Cir.2004). Although Base Metal included claims and allegations in addition to those in the instant case, the GOK allegations were identical, and all of the Appellants and four of the Appellees here were parties. See Davis I, 488 F.3d at 602.

After Appellants filed their November 2004 Chancery Court complaint, Appellees New Start Group Corp., Venitom Corp., Pan-American Corp., MDM Bank, Ural-Gorno Metallurgical Co., Evraz Holding, Mikhail Chernoi, Oleg Deripaska, Arnold Kislin, Mikhail Nekrich, and Iskander Makmudov removed the action to the District Court. Appellees moved to dismiss and to permanently to enjoin Appellants from filing these same GOK-related claims in any court in the United States. The District Court stayed merits discovery while it considered Appellees’ motions. Displeased with the stay, on April 26, 2005, Appellants filed an amended federal complaint without their state law claims, and re-filed those state claims in a new Chancery Court action. Davis I, 488 F.3d at 605. The Chancery Court also stayed the case. When Appellants moved to lift the stay in August 2006, the Court denied the motion, stating that Appellants’ new action was “an abuse of the removal statute.” (App. 707.)

On March 29, 2006, the District Court dismissed Appellants’ claims, concluding that under the doctrine of direct estoppel, Appellants were bound by the Base Metal Court’s forum non conveniens determination. Davis Int’l v. New Start Group Corp., 2006 WL 839364, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13990 (D.Del. Mar. 29, 2006). The District Court also ruled that it did not have the authority to grant the injunctive relief that Appellees had requested:

The court reaches its decision with some regret because it is convinced, as is the Chancery Court, that the plaintiffs are attempting to subvert the removal statute by splitting their claims. The court is also convinced that, absent an injunction, the plaintiffs will continue to file this action and take up the time and resources of another court.

Id. at *14 n. 16, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13990, *47 n. 16.

[337]*337In Davis I, we upheld the District Court’s dismissal, reasoning that because the allegations regarding GOK were identical to those in Base Metal, direct estoppel precluded relitigation of the forum non conveniens ruling. Davis I, 488 F.3d at 605. We also determined that the District Court had jurisdiction to issue the anti-suit injunction, and remanded so that the Court could determine if such an injunction was warranted. Id. at 606.

On remand, the District Court granted the anti-suit injunction pursuant to the All Writs Act. See Davis Int’l v. New Start Group, 2009 WL 1321900 at *3, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40895 at *9 (D.Del. May 13, 2009); 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a). The District Court also denied Appellants’ request to file a supplemental brief because briefing on the injunction motion was already complete. Id. at *3 n. 4, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40895, *10 n. 4.

II.

The District Court had jurisdiction pursuant to the All Writs Act. 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

III.

We “review[ ] the terms of an injunction for an abuse of discretion, underlying questions of law receive de novo review, and factual determinations are reviewed for clear error.” In re Prudential Ins. Co. of Am. Sales Practice Litig., 261 F.3d 355, 363 (3d Cir.2001).

A district court’s decision to deny a motion to supplement or amend a pleading is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. Boileau v. Bethlehem Steel Corp., 730 F.2d 929, 938 (3d Cir.1984).

IV.

A.

Appellants devote the bulk of their brief to argument that the Anti-Injunction Act barred the District Court from granting the anti-suit injunction. 28 U.S.C. § 2283. Although acknowledging the Davis I holding that the District Court had jurisdiction to grant an anti-suit injunction, Appellants nonetheless contend that the Court did not have the authority to issue injunctive relief. This distinction without a difference appears to be little more than an attempt to re-argue Davis I.

The All Writs Act provides a district court with the jurisdiction — and thus, the authority — to enjoin state court proceedings where “necessary or appropriate in aid of [its] jurisdiction and agreeable to the usages and principles of law.” 28 U.S.C. § 1657. The Act is intended to work in concert with the Anti-Injunction Act, which provides that “[a] court of the United States may not grant an injunction to stay proceedings in a State court except as expressly authorized by Act of Congress, or where necessary in aid of its jurisdiction, or to protect or effectuate its judgments.” 28 U.S.C.

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367 F. App'x 334, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-international-llc-v-new-start-group-corp-ca3-2010.