## Facts

- Eighty-two Costa Rican banana plantation workers and their wives sued Dow Chemical Company and Shell Oil Company in a Texas district court.
- Plaintiffs alleged sterility and other injuries from exposure in Costa Rica to dibromochloropropane (DBCP), a pesticide manufactured by Dow and Shell and allegedly supplied for plantation use.
- Plaintiffs invoked Texas’s foreign-country tort statute, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.031 (recodified from former Tex. Rev. Civ. Stat. art. 4678 without substantive change).
- Defendants attempted removal to federal court without success, then challenged jurisdiction and sought dismissal under forum non conveniens.
- The trial court found jurisdiction existed but dismissed on forum non conveniens grounds.
- The court of appeals reversed, concluding Texas courts lacked authority to dismiss § 71.031 actions on forum non conveniens grounds.

## Issues

1. Whether a Texas trial court may dismiss a personal injury or wrongful death action brought under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.031 on forum non conveniens grounds.
2. Whether § 71.031 confers a statutory right to maintain qualifying foreign tort actions in Texas courts that displaces common-law forum non conveniens.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Texas affirmed the court of appeals in a 5–4 decision.
- The Court held that § 71.031 abolishes forum non conveniens for claims brought under that statute.
- The Court concluded Texas courts therefore lack authority to dismiss qualifying § 71.031 cases on forum non conveniens grounds.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings consistent with the opinion.

## Legal Principles

- When § 71.031’s prerequisites are satisfied—(1) a right of action exists under Texas or foreign law, (2) suit is timely under Texas limitations, and (3) a foreign plaintiff’s country has equal treaty rights—an action “may be enforced in the courts of this state.”
- A legislative grant of access to Texas courts under § 71.031 displaces the common-law power to decline jurisdiction via forum non conveniens in covered cases.
- Recodification from former art. 4678 to § 71.031 was treated as non-substantive; prior judicial constructions of the statute’s effect on forum non conveniens remained controlling.
- Policy concerns about docket burden or comity cannot justify a court-created dismissal mechanism where the Legislature has provided a statutory right to proceed.

## Conclusion

The Supreme Court of Texas held that Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.031 bars forum non conveniens dismissals in covered foreign personal injury and wrongful death actions, requiring Texas courts to hear such cases when the statute’s conditions are met.


Dow Chem. Co. v. Castro Alfaro, 786 S.W.2d 674 (Tex. 1990)