Fruit Royale, Inc. v. Exportadora Acograpes, Ltda. ( 2023 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 FRUIT ROYALE, INC., Case No. 1:22-cv-01646-JLT-CDB 12 Plaintiff, ORDER DENYING WITHOUT PREJUDICE MOTION FOR ISSUANCE OF LETTER 13 v. ROGATORY 14 EXPORTADORA ACOGRAPES, LTDA. (Doc. 4) 15 Defendant. 16 17 18 Before this Court is Plaintiff Fruit Royale, Inc.’s (“Plaintiff”) motion requesting the Court 19 issue a letter rogatory pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1781 and the method set forth by the Inter-American 20 Convention on Letter’s Rogatory and Additional Protocol (“IACAP”), Jan. 30, 1975, S. TREATY 21 DOC. No. 27, 98th Cong. 2d Sess. (1984) to effectuate service on Defendant Exportadora Acograpes, 22 Ltda. (“Defendant”). (Doc. 4).1 23 In its complaint, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant breached two agreements for the sale of 24 grapes. See generally (Doc. 1). Defendant is a Chilean company growing and exporting grapes into 25 26 27 1 The matter of issuance of the requested letter rogatory properly is before the undersigned U.S. Magistrate Judge pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and Local Rule 302(a) & (b)(1)(4) 28 because a motion for letter rogatory is not dispositive. E.g., Sayles v. Pac. Eng’rs & Constructors, Ltd., 2009 WL 791332, *2-3 (W.D.N.Y. Mar. 23, 2009). 1 the United States. Id. at ¶ 4. Plaintiff seeks permission to serve Defendant pursuant to the IACAP 2 and two attached exhibits to Plaintiff’s motion for issuance of letter rogatory. (Docs. 4, 4-1, 4-2). 3 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(f)(1) permits service on a party in a foreign country pursuant 4 to any “internationally agreed means of service.” Both the United States and Chile are signatories of 5 the IACAP. Id. See https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-legal-considerations/internl- 6 judicial-asst/Service-of-Process/Inter-American-Service-Convention-Additional-Protocol.html (last 7 visited February 14. 2023). The United States Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs 8 summarizes the IACAP as follows: 9 The Inter-American Convention on Letters Rogatory and Additional Protocol (IACAP) are a pair of international agreements designed to facilitate judicial assistance between countries. 10 The United States interprets those agreements as limited to covering service of process and countries must be a party to both agreements in order for a treaty relationship to exist. 11 Replacing the traditional letters rogatory process, the IACAP provides a mechanism for service 12 of documents by a foreign central authority. The Department of Justice is the U.S. Central Authority under the IACAP. Requests from the United States are transmitted via a private 13 contractor carrying out the service functions of the U.S. Central Authority on behalf of the Department of Justice. 14 15 Id. To perfect foreign service under the IACAP, the serving party must complete the official Forms 16 (Forms A, B and C) set forth in the Additional Protocol and present them to the Clerk of Court for 17 signature and seal. See Office of Int’l Judicial Assistance, U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Guidance on Service 18 Abroad in U.S. Litigation (last updated October 1, 2018). 19 Plaintiff has completed the requisite Forms, which are currently before the Court. (Docs. 4-1 20 and 4-2). However, pursuant to Article 3 of the Additional Protocol, IACAP, Plaintiff is required to 21 serve the requested letter rogatory with a Spanish-language translation of the complaint. As Plaintiff’s 22 list of documents in Form A does not indicate whether the Complaint is translated, the Court will 23 direct Plaintiff to refile its motion and attach as exhibits Spanish-language translations of the 24 Complaint, Form A and Form B. 25 26 Remainder of Page Intentionally Left Blank 27 28 1 Accordingly, it is HEREBY ORDERED, Plaintiff's motion for issuance of letter rogatory is 2 |} DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE. 3 TT IS SO ORDERED. pated: _February 15,2023 | bo 5 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28