K.K. Mizuho Bank v. U.S.O. Corporation and Matsuda

U.S.O. Corporation (defendant), a Delaware corporation, was headquartered in Japan and conducted the vast majority of its business activities in Japan. U.S.O.’s business representative, John Doe, was domiciled in Japan. U.S.O. invested in a Japanese limited partnership that bought real estate in Illinois. After the real estate was sold, U.S.O. deposited its share of the sale proceeds with Mizuho Holding Company (Mizuho) (plaintiff), a Japanese bank. The money was supposed to be held in the Mizuho bank account in Japan as security for an outstanding loan to U.S.O.’s principal shareholder. Mizuho withdrew the money to satisfy the debt. U.S.O. filed suit in an Illinois federal district court, asserting claims against Mizuho sounding in torts, unjust enrichment, and breach of contract. While the Illinois action was still in the early stages of litigation, Mizuho filed a declaratory-judgment action in Japan against U.S.O. and Matsuda (defendant), John Doe’s Japanese bankruptcy administrator, asking the Japanese court to declare that Mizuho was not liable to U.S.O. The vast majority of the witnesses and documentary evidence relevant to U.S.O.’s Illinois lawsuit and Mizuho’s Japanese declaratory-judgment action were located in Japan. U.S.O. and Matsuda motioned to dismiss the Japanese declaratory-judgment action, arguing that Japan was an inconvenient forum and that it was up to the Illinois court to decide the question of Mizuho’s liability.