Case of the Day: En Pointe Techs. Sales, LLC v. Ovex Techs. (Private) Ltd., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141065 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 17, 2018)

Summary:

Plaintiff En Pointe is a Delaware corporation operating in California. Defendant Ovex is a Pakistani corporation operating in Islamabad, which previously contracted to provide service to plaintiff. The service agreement provided that dispute in relation to the contract is to be resolved through a JAMS arbitration in California. A dispute arose, and Ovex sued En Pointe in Pakistan. En Pointe filed the JAMS arbitration, and also petitioned the District Court to issue an anti-suit injunction, which the court granted. Ovex did not appear for either the injunction hearing or the JAMS arbitration; instead, Ovex's sole shareholder filed additional suits against En Pointe and its officers in Pakistan, and sought to hold En Pointe in contempt in Pakistian. Plaintiff then moved to hold the defendant in contempt in the District Court.

The court granted the contempt motion. Finding the defendant in violation of the anti-suit injunction, the court issued a fine of $1,000 per day for each day the defendant failed to comply with the injunction, and awarded attorneys' fees for En Pointe.

Takeaway:

Fireworks! Rarely do you see such a head-to-head fight between the courts of two countries. It does not appear to be a good way out of this conflict other than to some type of business arrangement.