Bridgeway Corp. v. Citibank

201 F.3d 134 (2nd Cir. 2000)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Bridgeway (P) got a final judgment from the Supreme Court of Liberia. In that action, Citibank (D) maintained a branch in Monrovia, Liberia. It closed that branch in 1992 and withdrew from the country in 1995. Before withdrawing, D formulated a liquidation plan, which was approved by the National Bank of Liberia. That plan was completed successfully. P had an account with D with a balance of $189.376.66 and brought suit against D claiming that it was obligated to pay P in US dollars and not Liberian currency. The trial court ruled in favor of D; a person may not refuse to accept Liberian dollars unless there is an express agreement to the contrary and that D had the right under the P-D contract to decide what currency to pay P with. The Liberian Supreme Court reversed and entered judgment for P. P then file suit in New York to enforce the judgment and D removed to federal court. P moved for summary judgment. The district court denied that motion and sua sponte granted summary judgment for D. It found that as a matter of law, the court of Liberia did not constitute a system of jurisprudence likely to secure an impartial administration of justice. P contends that D voluntarily participated in the litigation in Liberia and thus was estopped from challenging the impartiality of those courts.