Dooley v. United Technologies Corp.

152 F.R.D. 419, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18837, 1993 WL 556846
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedMay 11, 1993
DocketCiv. A. No. 91-2499
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 152 F.R.D. 419 (Dooley v. United Technologies Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dooley v. United Technologies Corp., 152 F.R.D. 419, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18837, 1993 WL 556846 (D.D.C. 1993).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

JUNE L. GREEN, District Judge.

Plaintiff Thomas Dooley seeks leave to amend the Complaint in a motion filed on January 25, 1993. The primary purpose of Plaintiffs motion is to re-plead allegations against Frank E. Basil, Inc. (Basil).1 Plaintiff brought his action against Basil and other defendants in October 1991. On June 17, 1992, the Court ordered the Complaint dismissed without prejudice as to Defendant Basil because Plaintiff failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. See Dooley v. United Technologies Corp., No. 91-2499, 1992 WL 167053, (D.D.C. June 17, 1992). For the reasons stated below, the Court finds that Plaintiffs proposed amendment corrects the deficiencies of the Complaint, that Basil will not be prejudiced by allowance of the amendment and that leave should therefore be granted pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15 (Rule 15).

I. FACTS

On October 4, 1991, Plaintiff filed a Complaint against Basil and numerous defendants, including United Technologies Corporation (UTC), alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, Title 18, United States Code, sections 1961-1968 (RICO), and supplemental state law claims. As the allegations of the Complaint are set out in depth in previous opinions,2 the Court will summarize here only the facts pertinent to this motion.

Plaintiff Dooley’s complaint sets forth allegations of a conspiracy to bribe representatives of the Saudi Arabian government in order to procure contracts for the sale of [421]*421military equipment. Dooley alleges that his employer, defendant Sikorsky Aircraft (“Sikorsky”), and its parent corporation, UTC, actively solicited the Saudi Arabian Government throughout the late 1970’s as a customer for its helicopters. Dooley further alleges that in 1986, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Defense and Aviation (“MODA”) finally agreed to purchase UTC helicopters. Dooley claims that to obtain the Saudi’s business, UTC agreed to pay substantial bribes to Saudi Arabian officials and businessmen.

The conspiracy allegedly developed through tacit agreement among high-level UTC corporate employees and the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States, His Royal Highness (“HRH”) Prince Bandar bin Sultan (“Prince Bandar”), and Prince Bandar’s Saudi Arabian associates. The scheme described by plaintiff Dooley involved the sale of 13 UTC-manufaetured Black Hawk helicopters—and implicit promises for future sales—to the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Defense and Aviation (“MODA”) through the Foreign Military Sales (“FMS”) program administered by the Department of Defense. In exchange for the sales, UTC agreed to pay bribes to HRH Prince Khalid bin Sultan (“Khalid”) and HRH Prince Fa-had bin Sultan (“Fahad”), sons of MODA Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz bin Saud, and Saudi Arabian businessman Ibrahim A. Al-Namlah (“Namlah”).

The bribes were to be funneled to the Saudi royalty through a business arrangement linking a Washington, D.C.-based corporation, Frank E. Basil, Inc., with a Saudi Arabian-based corporation, Thimar Al-Jazirah Corporation (“Thimar”). Through the influence of Saudi Arabian officials, including Prince Bandar, defendant Sikorsky was awarded a collateral contract for Maintenance Support Services (“MSS”) to the FMS sale, without the normal competitive bidding of the contract. The UTC defendants then, in turn, contracted out for Personnel Support Service (“PSS”) under the MSS contract, to the Basil-Thimar joint-venture. This mechanism allegedly allowed the UTC defendants to funnel bribes to Namlah and his “business partners”, Khalid and Fahad, while circumventing United States Government oversight and audit procedures.

Namlah, the Saudi businessman designated by Prince Bandar to be UTC’s “contact” in Saudi Arabia, is president and part-owner of Thimar. It is alleged that he used the payments from the Basil-Thimar joint venture to pay off Khalid and Fahad and to take a “cut” for himself.

Basil’s Motion To Dismiss

On March 24,1992, Basil moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. The Court granted Basil’s motion finding that Basil played an unwitting role in a conspiracy developed and advanced by others. The Court held the allegations of the Complaint supported no “allowable inference that Basil assented to the alleged conspiracy or was aware of its role in the bribery scheme and knowingly and substantially assisted the perpetrators.” Dooley v. United Technologies Corp., No. 91-2499, 1992 WL 167053, *3, (D.D.C. filed June 17, 1992), at 7 (citation omitted).

Plaintiffs Motion For Leave To Amend

On January 25,1993, the Plaintiff filed the instant motion for leave to Amend the Complaint to include new allegations against Basil. Plaintiff asserts in the motion that discovery has yielded new evidence demonstrating that Basil played a knowing role in the conspiracy and substantially assisted the perpetrators. For example, Plaintiff seeks to plead, inter alia, (1) that Basil was a full partner with Thimar in carrying out the PSS project, as demonstrated in the document entitled “Supplemental Co-operation Agreement Between Frank E. Basil, Inc. And Thimar Al-Jazirah Corporation;” (2) that that arrangement lasted until mid-October, 1989 when Basil assigned its interest in the joint-venture to Thimar which then subcontracted the PSS project to Basil; (3) that Basil was involved in the negotiations between defendant Sikorsky International Products, Inc. (SIPI) and Thimar to set up the joint venture and Basil managed and financed the entire PSS project for its first three years; (4) that Basil transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to Thimar from 1989 to 1991 without any written agreement for repayment; and (5) that Basil was aware that Thimar’s Presi[422]*422dent and sole-owner, Namlah, had a close relationship with Prince Bandar and that Bandar approved the contract between Basil and Thimar. See Pl.’s Mem., pp. 3-17 and Pl.’s Reply, pp. 14-23.

II. DISCUSSION

The Plaintiffs request for leave to amend the Complaint is governed by Rule 15(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure which provides that “... a party may amend the party’s pleading only by leave of court or by written consent of the adverse party; and leave shall be freely given when justice so requires.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a).

In Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 83 S.Ct. 227, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962), the Supreme Court provided guidance for determining when “justice” requires that leave to amend be granted:

In the absence of any apparent or declared reason—such as undue delay, bad faith or dilatory motive on the part of the movant, repeated failure to cure deficiencies by amendments previously allowed, undue prejudice to the opposing party by virtue of allowance of the amendment, futility of amendment, etc.—the leave sought should, as the rules require, be ‘freely given.’

Id. at 182, 83 S.Ct. at 230. The parties dispute whether any of the reasons cited in Foman

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Bluebook (online)
152 F.R.D. 419, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18837, 1993 WL 556846, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dooley-v-united-technologies-corp-dcd-1993.