E. & J. Gallo Winery v. Andina Licores S.A.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER DENYING ANDINA’S MOTION TO RESTRAIN GALLO IN ECUADOR ACTION AND DENYING MOTION FOR STAY PENDING APPEAL

INTRODUCTION

This is an action for damages and declaratory relief between plaintiff, E. & J. Gallo Winery (“Gallo”), a manufacturer of wine products in California and defendant Andina Licores, S.A. (“Andina”) a distributor of alcoholic beverages in Ecuador. The underlying dispute arises out of a distributorship agreement that was executed by the parties most recently in 1987 (hereinafter, the “Agreement”). In August of 2004, Andina commenced a civil proceeding in the Second Civil Court of Guayaquil, Ecuador (the “Ecuador action”) alleging Gallo breached the agreement by selling wine directly to Andina’s largest customer. Gallo filed a suit against Andi-na in the Superior Court of Stanislaus County for declaratory relief, abuse of process, unfair competition, and breach of contract (the “California action”). The California action was removed to this court on January 24, 2005. In an order filed on May 1, 2006, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal reversed this court’s prior order denying Gallo’s motion for anti-suit injunction to prevent Andina from…