McLane v. Marriott International, Inc.

960 F. Supp. 2d 1351, 2013 WL 1810649, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62768
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedApril 30, 2013
DocketCase No. 08-20662-CIV
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 960 F. Supp. 2d 1351 (McLane v. Marriott International, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McLane v. Marriott International, Inc., 960 F. Supp. 2d 1351, 2013 WL 1810649, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62768 (S.D. Fla. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC.’S MOTION TO DISMISS PLAINTIFFS’ THIRD AMENDED COMPLAINT (D.E. 215)

JOAN A. LENARD, District Judge.

THIS CAUSE is before the Court on remand from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (“Appellate Order,” D.E. 373). Before the Court for reconsideration pursuant to the Appellate Order is Defendant Marriott International, Inc.’s (“Marriott”) Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs’ Third Amended Complaint (“Motion,” D.E. 215), filed on July 7, 2009. Plaintiffs Beverly and Brad McLane filed their Response in Opposition to the Motion to Dismiss (“Response,” D.E. 231), on August 3, 2009, to which Defendant Marriott replied on August 11, 2009 (“Reply,” D.E. 253). Also before the Court are the Parties’ Supplemental Memoranda of Law (“Plaintiffs’ Supplement,” D.E. 381; “Defendant’s Supplement,” D.E. 382), filed on August 10, 2012 pursuant to this Court’s July 10, 2012 Order (D.E. 379). Having considered the Appellate Order, Motion, Response, Reply, Plaintiffs’ and Defendant’s Supplements, and the record, the Court finds as follows.

I. Background1

This case arises out of injuries suffered by Plaintiff Beverly McLane resulting [1355]*1355from the alleged negligent operation of a sportfishing boat off the coast of Costa Rica. On or around March 24, 2006, Plaintiffs were vacationing at the Los Sueños Marriott Resort (“Resort”) in Costa Rica. (Third Am. Compl., D.E. 204, ¶23.) On that date, Plaintiff Brad McLane, Beverly’s husband, chartered a 1998 Boston Whaler named Terry Lee to go sport fishing in the waters off the coast of Costa Rica. (Id.) The Terry Lee was owned by Costa Rica Dreams, a boat charter company, and sailed from the marina adjacent to the Resort. (Id.) Hugo Keyner Núñez Barrios, a Costa Rican citizen, captained the boat. (Motion 9.) During the voyage, Beverly McLane suffered a burst compression fracture of her LI vertebrae. (Third Am. Compl. ¶25.) As a result of this injury, Beverly McLane has undergone two spinal surgeries and currently suffers from chronic back pain and numbness in her back and lower extremities. (Id. ¶¶ 25-27.) Plaintiffs allege that Beverly McLane’s injuries were caused by the negligent operation of the Terry Lee. (Id. ¶ 24.)

On June 26, 2009, Plaintiffs filed their Third Amended Complaint (“Complaint”), which alleged, inter alia, a claim of vicarious liability against Marriott, the promoter and day-to-day operator of the Resort. (Id. ¶¶ 48-57.) On July 7, 2009, Marriott moved to dismiss Count IV of the Complaint on forum non conveniens grounds. The Court granted Marriott’s Motion and dismissed the case against Marriott on forum non conveniens grounds. (See Order, D.E. 322.) On appeal, the Eleventh Circuit reversed this Court’s ruling on Marriott’s Motion and remanded the case for reconsideration of that Order. McLane v. Los Suenos Marriott Ocean & Golf Resort, 476 Fed.Appx. 831, 834 (11th Cir.2012) (per curiam). The Eleventh Circuit focused its opinion on “the only part [of the Court’s Order it] found to be in error: the exclusion of the presumption against disturbing plaintiffs’ choice from the district court’s balancing of private factors.” Id. at 833 n. 1. The Eleventh Circuit found as follows:

We find that the district court adequately identified the private factors involved in this case but committed an abuse of discretion in its balancing of them. The district court should have weighed the presumption against distributing plaintiffs’ choice in its balancing of private factors, but there is no indication that it did so. Furthermore, nowhere in the opinion did the district court acknowledge that this presumption is strongest when plaintiffs are U.S. citizens, and nowhere did the district court point to unusually extreme circumstances or manifest extreme injustice that would merit denying a U.S. citizen access to U.S. courts. In this circuit, a district court’s failure to weigh the presumption in favor of the plaintiffs into the balancing of private factors has been held to be a clear abuse of its discretion.
Because it is unclear whether the district court, applying the presumption correctly, would conclude that dismissal is nevertheless appropriate, we reverse and remand for reconsideration.... Nothing herein suggests the ultimate outcome.

Id. at 833-34 (footnote and internal quotations omitted).

In their Supplemental Memorandum of Law filed after the issuance of the Appellate Order, Plaintiffs argue that “Marriott [1356]*1356International must demonstrate that the contacts in this case overwhelmingly predominate in Costa Rica, and it cannot fulfill that burden merely by listing the contact there. It can show those foreign contacts to be overwhelming only by comparing them to the contacts here.” (Plaintiffs’ Supplement 3.) Plaintiffs assert that this case’s contacts with the United States, including that both Plaintiffs are U.S. citizens, four of the eyewitnesses live in Florida, most of the medical witnesses are in the United States, and that Marriott operates an office in Florida, show that the contacts in this case do not overwhelmingly predominate in Costa Rica. (Id. at 3-5.)

In its Supplemental Memorandum of Law, Defendant Marriott argues that the Court “should conclude that the strong presumption against disturbing the Plaintiffs’ choice of forum is outweighed by a balancing of the private interest factors and dismiss the Complaint” owing to the following seven reasons: “(1) this Court’s inability to compel the testimony in Florida or the production of documents from the majority of third-party witnesses on the critical issues of liability; (2) the inability to implead potential third-parties who are alleged to be the actual tortfeasors and agents of the Defendant; (3) superior access to sources of proof available in Costa Rica where the majority of witnesses, documents, and tangible evidence are located; (4) the substantial costs involved in translating testimony and documents for a Florida trial; (5) the unnecessary burden on local jurors to serve on a trial that has little connection to this forum; (6) Costa Rica’s superior interest in resolving this claim; and (7) the need to apply foreign law.” (Defendant’s Supplement 3.)

II. Legal Standards

A district court has discretion to dismiss a case on forum non conveniens grounds “when trial in the chosen forum would establish ... oppressiveness and vexation to a defendant ... out of all proportion to plaintiffs convenience, or when the chosen forum [is] inappropriate because of consideration affecting the court’s own administrative and legal problems.” Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno, 454 U.S. 235, 249, 102 S.Ct. 252, 70 L.Ed.2d 419 (1981). “Dismissal will ordinarily be appropriate where trial in the plaintiffs chosen forum imposes a heavy burden on the defendant or the court and where the plaintiff is unable to aver any specific reasons of convenience supporting its choice.” Id.

In a motion to dismiss for forum non conveniens,

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

Related

Urbanek v. Stryjewski
M.D. Florida, 2024
Wagner v. Island Romance Holidays, Inc.
984 F. Supp. 2d 1310 (S.D. Florida, 2013)
Montgomery v. Oberti
945 F. Supp. 2d 1367 (S.D. Florida, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
960 F. Supp. 2d 1351, 2013 WL 1810649, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62768, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mclane-v-marriott-international-inc-flsd-2013.