APL Co. Pte. Ltd. v. UK Aerosols Ltd.

U.G. Co., Inc. (U.G.) and Kamdar Global LLC (Kamdar) appeal from the district court’s summary judgment in favor of APL Co. Pte. Ltd. (APL), based on the district court’s holding that U.G. and Kamdar have indemnification obligations to APL under the parties’ bill of lading. APL appeals from the district court’s denial of its motion for attorneys’ fees. The district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1333 . We have jurisdiction over these timely filed appeals pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm the summary judgment of the district court. We reverse the district court’s denial of attorneys’ fees and remand this claim to the district court.

I.

In June 2003, U.G., a California company, sent purchase orders for 717,120 cans of hair spray and 59,760 cartons of hair mousse to Kamdar, an Illinois limited liability company. Kamdar, acting as purchasing agent, forwarded the purchase orders to UK Aerosols Ltd. (UK Aerosols), an English company, and purchased the goods from UK Aerosols. Kamdar authorized UK Aerosols to ship the goods on behalf of U.G. and Kamdar. Accordingly, UK Aerosols requested that APL, a Singapore corporation, ship the cargo containing the hair mousse…