Torts

• Author: International Law Group

Alimuddin Sirajuddin Kazi, a citizen of India not residing in the United States, lost his life while employed on an oil rig in the coastal waters of the United Arab Emirates. His survivors (plaintiffs), all Indian citizens, brought a wrongful death action in the Texas state courts in 1993 relying on Section 71.031 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code.

This provision admits wrongful injury or death suits to the Texas courts, inter alia, if: "in the case of a citizen of a foreign country, the country has equal treaty rights with the United States on behalf of its citizens." [emphasis supplied] Defendants include Dubai Petroleum Company, Inc., Conoco, Inc., Dresser Industries, Inc. d/b/a Dresser-Rand Co., Aeroquip Corporation, Solar Turbines Incorporated, and Energy Service International, LTD a/k/a ESI., Inc.

Concluding that U.S. citizens lack "equal treaty rights" in India, the trial court dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction based on failure to comply with Section 71.031. The intermediate appellate court reversed, holding that the statute pertained to the statement of a substantive cause of action and was not jurisdictional. It also held that both India and the U.S. are parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 999 U.N.T.S. 171, 6 I.L.M. 368 (ICCPR) and it provides U.S. citizens equal treaty rights in India. On certiorari, the Texas Supreme Court affirms and remands.

The Court first notes that the legislative history of the statutory language and the case law throw little or no light on its intended meaning. The statute would ordinarily not assume that a treaty conferred specific substantive rights on U.S. citizens.

"Absent any other reasonable construction, the most plausible reading of the 'equal treaty rights' provision is that the Legislature intended to condition a foreign citizen's right to sue on personal injury or death claims on the r injured party's country of citizenship and pursue a personal injury or death claim to the same extent that a citizen of that country could do so. As we noted earlier, 'equal treaty rights' does not mean that the foreign country must provide the same substantive rights, procedures, or remedies as Texas law. The provision simply means that the foreign country's law must, based on a treaty, afford United States citizens access to its courts to pursue any remedies available to its own citizens for personal injury or wrongful death." [80]

Since U.S. courts tend to...