Glencore Grain Rotterdam B v. V. Shivnath Rai Harnarain Co.

Glencore Grain Rotterdam B.V. (“Glen-core Grain”) filed an application in the district court under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (“Convention”) for an order confirming its arbitration award against Shivnath Rai Harnarain Company (“Shivnath Rai”). On Shivnath Rai’s motion, the district court dismissed Glencore Grain’s application for lack of personal jurisdiction.

We have jurisdiction over Glencore Grain’s appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We hold that the Convention does not eliminate the due process requirement that a federal court have jurisdiction over a defendant’s person or property in a suit to confirm a previously issued arbitration award. Because Glencore Grain fails (1) to identify any property owned by Shiv-nath Rai in the forum, or (2) to allege facts that support a finding of personal jurisdiction, we affirm the district court’s dismissal of the complaint.

BACKGROUND

This case arises out of a series of eleven contracts under which Glencore Grain, a Netherlands corporation with its principal place of business in Rotterdam, agreed to purchase approximately 300,000 tons of rice from Shivnath Rai, a manufacturer and…