Hellenic Petroleum LLC v. Elbow River Marketing Ltd.
Opinion
Trial Court Opinion
I. INTRODUCTION
14 This case arises out of a transaction in which Plaintiff Hellenic Petroleum LLC (“Hellenic
15 Petroleum” or “Plaintiff”), a U.S. company whose principal place of business is in Florida, purchased
16 propane from Elbow River Marketing LTD (“Elbow River”), a Canadian company whose principal
17 place of business is in Alberta, Canada. ECF No. 1 ¶¶ 1-2. After this action was filed in April 2019,
18 Elbow River filed its first motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(3), arguing
19 that the Alberta courts in Canada had exclusive jurisdiction over this case based on a forum-selection
20 clause. Doubting that the motion to dismiss was brought under the correct principles of law given that
21 an international sales contract was at issue in this case, the Court, on July 11, 2019, denied the motion
22 without prejudice and instructed Elbow River to brief the Court further on the applicability of the United
23 Nations Convention on Contracts for the Internal Sale of Goods (“CISG”) and Atl. Marine Const. Co. v.
24 U.S. Dist. Court for W. Dist. of Texas, 571 U.S. 49 (2013) in a subsequent motion to dismiss. ECF No.
25 Accordingly,…