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Masaki Bussan K.K. v. Nanka Seimen Company

Tokyo District Court
Hanrei Jihō (No. 1390) 98 (1991)

Written by David Bloom, JD

Facts

Masaki Bussan K.K. (Masaki Bussan) (plaintiff), a Japanese corporation, manufactured and sold a noodle-making machine to a United States buyer through a California intermediary, Nanka Seimen Company (defendant), that had no offices in Japan. An employee of the United States buyer was injured while using the machine. The employee filed a tort action against Masaki Bussan and Nanka Seimen in California, claiming that the machine was defective. Nanka Seimen subsequently filed suit against Masaki Bussan in California, alleging that Masaki Bussan was required to indemnify Nanka Seimen in the event that Nanka Seimen was forced to compensate the employee for any damages in the tort action. Masaki Bussan filed suit against Nanka Seimen and the employee in Japan, seeking declaratory judgments that Masaki Bussan was not liable to Nanka Seimen or to the employee. By the time that the declaratory-judgment actions were commenced in Japan, the California actions were in considerably advanced stages of litigation. Nanka Seimen motioned to dismiss the declaratory-judgment action against it in Japan.

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Holding and Reasoning (Iwao, J.)

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