Prime Venture Corporation v. Fennix Global Holdings, Inc.

District Court, D. Puerto Rico·Decided June 15, 2020·No. 3:18-cv-01473·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

PRIME VENTURE CORPORATION,

Plaintiff,

v. CIVIL NO.: 18-1473 (RAM)

FENNIX GLOBAL HOLDINGS, INC.,

Defendant.

OPINION AND ORDER RAÚL M. ARIAS-MARXUACH, United States District Judge Pending before the Court is Plaintiff Prime Venture Corporation’s Complaint for Declaratory Judgment (Docket No. 33). For the reasons set forth below, the Court DENIES the requested declaratory judgment and DISMISSES the Complaint with prejudice. I. BACKGROUND This case arises from the arbitration agreement in a “Memorandum of Understanding” (“MOU”) between Prime Venture Corporation (“Prime” or “Plaintiff”) and Fennix Global Holdings, Inc. (“Fennix” or “Defendant”). (Docket No. 34-1). Under the MOU, Prime would invest $250,000 in Fennix and the latter would develop software for use by law enforcement personnel. Id. at 1. Plaintiff invoked the Court’s diversity of citizenship subject matter jurisdiction in the Second Amended Complaint (“Complaint”). (Docket No. 33 ¶ 2). Prime is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico with a principal place of business in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Id. ¶ 6. Fennix on the other hand, is a corporation organized and existing under the laws

of Panama with a principal place of business in Panama. Id. ¶ 7. According to the Complaint, there is no controversy between the parties that a current dispute between them is subject to arbitration. Id. ¶ 18. Instead, the parties disagree on whether arbitration should take place before the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture of Panama or before JAMS, an arbitration administrator with offices in Boca Raton, Florida. Id. ¶¶ 18-20.1 Prime avers that the MOU’s arbitration agreement allows arbitration to be held before an entity equivalent to the Chamber of Commerce, Industry or Agriculture of Panama. Id. at ¶ 19. Prime alleges that JAMS is such an entity. Id. ¶ 22. Accordingly, Prime petitioned for a declaratory judgment

providing that: JAMS arbitration in Boca Raton, Florida is the Puerto Rican equivalent of arbitration before the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, & Agriculture of Panama, and, for that reason, that JAMS has jurisdiction to resolve all disputes arising under the April 16, 2016 [sic.] Memorandum of Understanding between

1 Arbitration agreements tend to specify an arbitration administrator. These administrators, “which may be for-profit or non-profit organizations, facilitate the selection of an arbitrator to decide the dispute, provide for basic rules of procedure and operations support, and generally administer the arbitration.” Arbitration Agreements, Federal Register, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/05/24/2016-10961/arbitration- agreements (last visited on June 12, 2020). Prime Venture Corporation and Fennix Global Holdings, Inc. Id. at 6. Defendant Fennix is in default. (Docket No. 27). Prime amended the Complaint after entry of default upon Fennix. (Docket Nos. 28 and 33). On March 26, 2020, the Court ordered Prime to show cause why the Court should not declare that JAMS is not an alternate arbitral forum in this case given that that: (1) the arbitration agreement lists the Arbitration Center of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Panama as a first option for an arbitral forum; (b) the Complaint is devoid of allegations that this forum is not available. (Docket No. 32).

Prime filed its response on April 21, 2020. (Docket No. 34). Simply stated, Prime argued: (a) the performance of the parties’ contractual obligations was to take place in Puerto Rico, and (b) the arbitration agreement does not require that one arbitral forum be unavailable before choosing another. Id. ¶¶ 2-3. Thus, Prime requested in the Complaint that the Court “enter a judgment declaring that JAMS arbitration in Boca Raton, Florida is the Puerto Rican equivalent of arbitration before the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, & Agriculture of Panama,” and declare “that JAMS has jurisdiction to resolve all disputes arising under the April 16, 2016 [sic.] Memorandum of Understanding between Prime Venture Corporation and Fennix Global Holdings, Inc.” (Docket No. 33 at 6.)2 II. APPLICABLE LAW A. Standard governing dismissal under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6):

Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) requires dismissal of a complaint that “fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” Under Rule 12(b)(6), the plaintiff must plead enough facts to state a claim that is “plausible” on its face, and the “[f]actual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level, on the assumption that all the allegations in the complaint are true (even if doubtful in fact).” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (quotations marks, citations and footnote omitted). “[A] plaintiff’s obligation to provide the ‘grounds’ of his ‘entitle[ment] to relief’ requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of

the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Id. A complaint will not stand if it offers only “naked assertion[s]” devoid of “further factual enhancements.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (citation omitted). To determine whether a complaint has stated a plausible, non- speculative claim for relief, “courts must consider the complaint in its entirety, as well as other sources” such as “documents

2 The Court notes that while Plaintiff states that the April 2016 MOU is dated April 16, 2016, the effective date is April 20, 2016. (Docket No. 34-1 at 1). incorporated into the complaint by reference, and matters of which a court may take judicial notice.” Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues & Rights, Ltd., 551 U.S. 308, 322 (2007). Further, this requires treating non-conclusory factual allegations as true. See Nieto-

Vicenty v. Valledor, 984 F. Supp. 2d 17, 20 (D.P.R. 2013). However, even if a party has not moved to dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim, “a district court may ‘note the inadequacy of the complaint and, on its own initiative, dismiss the complaint’ under Rule 12(b)(6).” Fernandez v. BRG, LLC, 2017 WL 7362729, at *4 (D.P.R. 2017) (quotation omitted) (emphasis added). Lastly, “[s]ua sponte dismissals should be used sparingly, but are appropriate if it is ‘crystal clear that the plaintiff cannot prevail and that amending the complaint would be futile.’” Jimenez- Tapia v. Santander Bank PR, 257 F. Supp. 3d 193, 198 (D.P.R. 2017) (quotation omitted). B. Declaratory judgments under Fed. R. Civ. P. 59

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