Cohen v. Mangrove Motorsports LLC, et al.

Summary

The court denied Defendant Rory Lamberton’s motion to dismiss Matan Cohen’s conversion action under the doctrine of forum non conveniens. The court held that the motion was untimely and that Lamberton failed to establish Colombia as an adequate and available alternative forum; the private and public interest factors also supported retaining the case in Michigan.

Holdings

1. A forum non conveniens motion should ordinarily be brought within a reasonable time after the facts supporting it become known, and Lamberton's motion was filed too late after extensive litigation activity and without justification for the delay.
2. Dismissal under forum non conveniens is unavailable unless the defendant establishes an adequate and available alternative forum, and Lamberton failed to show that Colombia could exercise jurisdiction over all parties and provide a satisfactory remedy.
3. Because Lamberton failed to establish an adequate and available alternative forum, the court did not need to conduct the remaining forum non conveniens balancing analysis; in any event, the burden of litigating abroad supported retaining the Michigan forum.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Lamberton's motion to dismiss under forum non conveniens was filed too late after substantial litigation activity.
2. Whether Colombia was an adequate and available alternative forum for the dispute.
3. Whether the action should be dismissed because Cohen's chosen Michigan forum was unnecessarily burdensome under the applicable private- and public-interest factors.

Disposition

dismissed