## Facts

- Ricardo Loya, a Washington resident, died during a scuba diving excursion off the coast of Mexico while vacationing at a resort in Los Cabos.
- The excursion was arranged through the resort with a local Mexican dive operator.
- The decedent’s estate and surviving minor children sued in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, alleging negligence and related theories against the resort-related entities and others involved with the excursion.
- Plaintiffs invoked the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA) as part of the asserted basis for relief.
- Defendants moved to dismiss on forum non conveniens grounds, arguing Mexico was the more appropriate forum; they agreed to submit to Mexican jurisdiction under standard conditions.

## Issues

1. Whether DOHSA claims are categorically immune from dismissal on forum non conveniens grounds.
2. If forum non conveniens is available, whether the district court abused its discretion by dismissing in favor of a Mexican forum.

## Decision

- The Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal.
- The court held that DOHSA claims are not exempt from forum non conveniens and may be dismissed in the court’s discretion.
- The court held Mexico was an adequate alternative forum where defendants consented to jurisdiction and available remedies were not so deficient as to be inadequate.
- The court found no clear abuse of discretion in the district court’s weighing of private and public interest factors favoring litigation in Mexico.

## Legal Principles

- DOHSA actions fall within admiralty jurisdiction and remain subject to discretionary dismissal under forum non conveniens absent a clear statutory command to the contrary.
- Forum non conveniens requires (1) an adequate alternative forum and (2) a balance of private interest factors (proof and witnesses, compulsory process, cost and practicality) and public interest factors (local interest, administrative burden, and choice-of-law concerns).
- A foreign forum is not inadequate merely because damages or procedures may be less favorable than in a U.S. court, so long as meaningful remedies are available.

## Conclusion

The Ninth Circuit held that DOHSA does not guarantee a U.S. forum and affirmed dismissal on forum non conveniens where Mexico was available and the core evidence, witnesses, regulatory interests, and likely applicable law were predominantly Mexican.


Loya v. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., 583 F.3d 656 (9th Cir. 2009)