Viacom International, Inc. v. Kearney

190 F.R.D. 97, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9318, 1999 WL 420447
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJune 22, 1999
DocketNo. 98 CIV. 6226(SAS)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 190 F.R.D. 97 (Viacom International, Inc. v. Kearney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Viacom International, Inc. v. Kearney, 190 F.R.D. 97, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9318, 1999 WL 420447 (S.D.N.Y. 1999).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

SCHEINDLIN, District Judge.

Plaintiff, Viacom International, Inc. (“Viacom”), brought a breach of contract action against Michael W. Kearney (“Kearney”) for indemnification and declaratory relief. Kear-ney counter-claimed against Viacom, and subsequently brought claims for monetary damages and injunctive relief against Cono-log Corporation (“Conolog”) and Camp, Dresser, and McKee (“CDM”). In response, Conolog has brought claims against Taylor Forge Stainless, Inc. (“Taylor Forge”).

Kearney, claiming that Taylor Forge is an indispensable party to the action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Fed.R.Civ.P.”) 19, moves to dismiss the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because the join-der of Taylor Forge will destroy diversity of citizenship, the sole source of this Court’s jurisdiction.

Conolog, joined by Viacom, moves for a severance and a stay of the claims pending against them until the Viacom-Kearney indemnification dispute is resolved.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

Gulf and Western Manufacturing (“Gulf and Western”), predecessor to Viacom, was the sole shareholder of Taylor Forge, a Delaware corporation engaged in the manufacture and sale of stainless steel, alloy fittings, and flanges. See Complaint (“CompL”) H 8. Taylor Forge operates a manufacturing facility located in Somerville, New Jersey. On October 26,1984, Kearney entered into a contract (“the Agreement”) with Gulf and Western to purchase all existing shares in Taylor Forge. See id. K 9. Viacom alleges that Kearney breached two provisions of the Agreement, and seeks both compensatory damages and a declaratory judgment concerning Kearney’s future obligations.

Viacom’s complaint against Kearney consists of three counts. In its first Count, Viacom alleges that the defendant has failed to honor section 7.7(iii) of the Agreement to indemnify Viacom for all costs and expenses in excess of $1.75 million paid to third parties to implement an environmental cleanup plan (the “Cleanup Plan”) for Taylor Forge’s New Jersey facility. Id. H15. The Cleanup Plan was required by an Administrative Consent Order issued by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and entered into by both Kearney and Gulf & Western in October 1984. Viacom alleges that it has thus far paid more than $3.8 million to third parties to implement the Cleanup Plan, and that Kearney has refused to pay any indemnification to Viacom. Id. H11. In its second Count, Viacom alleges that Kearney allowed Taylor Forge to worsen the environmental [99]*99condition of the Taylor Forge facility in violation of a provision of the Agreement, section 7.7(i), which prohibits him from doing so. Id. f 19. In its final count, Viacom seeks declaratory relief ordering Kearney to indemnify Viacom for all existing and future costs stemming from the Cleanup Plan in excess of $1.75 million. Id. II23.

On November 30, 1998, Kearney brought twenty-two counterclaims against Viacom, alleging that Viacom committed fraud in negotiating the Agreement by misrepresenting the environmental situation of Taylor Forge, and failed to remediate its contamination of the site. See Answer, Separate Defenses, Counterclaim, Third Party Complaint and Jury Demand. Kearney also brought a third party complaint against Conolog, a Delaware corporation which operates a facility near the Taylor Forge site. Kearney alleges that the adjacent Conolog Facility contaminated and worsened the environmental condition of the Taylor Forge site. Id.

Viacom and Kearney have engaged in pri- or litigation concerning the Agreement and the Cleanup Plan. In August 1993, Kearney and Taylor Forge sued Gulf & Western’s successor in the Superior Court of New Jersey (the “New Jersey action”). See Taylor Forge Stainless, Inc. v. Paramount Communication Realty Corp., No. SOM-L-1538-93. Kearney and Taylor Forge pled a number of legal theories but the thrust of their contentions were that (1) Gulf & Western misrepresented the extent of the environmental contamination and the projected cost and time needed to clean up the facility; (2) Gulf and Western and its successors failed to clean up the facility in a diligent, careful and timely manner; and (3) the cost of implementing the Cleanup Plan refers to the actual physical remediation of the facility rather than tests, studies, evaluations, plans, and other similar expenses.

In May 1994, the parties consented to a dismissal of that action without prejudice so that they could work out a settlement. The court retained jurisdiction to enforce its order of dismissal, which provided that Taylor Forge and Kearney could reinstate the action if the parties did not reach a settlement. A full settlement between the parties was never reached, and Viacom filed this action in September 1998. The parallel state action in which all parties to this action are present, including Taylor Forge, is again active and currently pending in the Superior Court of New Jersey with a trial date set for June 1999.

On November 8, 1998, Kearney moved to dismiss or transfer this action. In February 1999, Kearney’s motion was denied in an Opinion and Order holding that this Court had jurisdiction over the parties, venue was properly laid, and that transfer to the District of New Jersey was not warranted in light of the deference given to plaintiffs choice of forum. See Viacom International, Inc. v. Kearney, 98 Civ. 6226(SAS), 1999 WL 92601 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 18, 1999). I also held that abstention in favor of the parallel state action was not warranted, noting that the federal courts are charged with a “virtually unflagging obligation ... to exercise the jurisdiction given them.” Id. at *5 (quoting Colorado River Water Conservation Dist. v. United States, 424 U.S. 800, 817, 96 S.Ct. 1236, 47 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976)). Given this obligation, abstention is only appropriate under “exceptional circumstances,” which were not present at that time. Id. at *6. That opinion tangentially discussed the importance of Taylor Forge as a party to the action. “[T]he pleadings in both actions suggest that the allocation of expenses for the cleanup is the central dispute between the parties; any dispute between Viacom and Taylor Forge appears secondary.” Viacom, 1999 WL 92601 at *6. When that Order was issued (February 1999), the only parties to the suit were Viacom, Kearney, and Conolog.

However, that Order did not address the indispensability of Taylor Forge as a party to the action. First, the prior statement regarding Taylor Forge was made in the context of a request for federal abstention in favor of a parallel state action. Abstention is a disfavored doctrine which is valid “only in the exceptional circumstances where the order to the parties to repair to the state court would clearly serve an important countervailing interest.” Colorado River Water Conservation Dist., 424 U.S. at 813, 96 S.Ct. 1236. The Second Circuit has consistently found [100]*100abstention to be “an ‘extraordinary and narrow exception to a federal court’s duty to exercise its jurisdiction.” FDIC v. Four Star Holding Co., 178 F.3d 97 (2d Cir.1999) (quoting

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Bluebook (online)
190 F.R.D. 97, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9318, 1999 WL 420447, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/viacom-international-inc-v-kearney-nysd-1999.