National Petrochemical Co. v. The M/T Stolt Sheaf

National Petrochemical Co. v. The M/T Stolt Sheaf

Opinion

 [*241]  MAHONEY, Circuit Judge

In this action, plaintiff-appellant National Petrochemical Co. of Iran ("NPC") seeks damages from defendants for failure to deliver certain chemicals originally destined for Iran aboard the vessel Stolt Sheaf, but ultimately discharged at Taiwan after the outbreak of war between Iraq and Iran. Defendants are the tanker Stolt Sheaf, on which the chemicals in question were shipped from Houston, Texas, and various parties engaged in the ownership and operation of the Stolt Sheaf.

Upon remand from a decision by this  [**2]  court in National Petrochemical Co. of Iran v. M/T Stolt Sheaf, 860 F.2d 551 (2d Cir. 1988), cert. denied, 489 U.S. 1081, 103 L. Ed. 2d 840, 109 S. Ct. 1535 (1989) ("NPC I"), that affirmed the right of NPC to maintain this action in American courts, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Richard Owen, Judge, granted summary judgment to defendants. The district court ruled that NPC was barred from recovery because of its knowing efforts to violate United States law imposing an embargo upon the sale or other transfer of items, products, and commodities (other than excepted food, medical supplies and clothing) to Iran. See National Petrochemical Co. of Iran v. M/T Stolt Sheaf, 722 F. Supp. 54 (S.D.N.Y. 1989)("NPC II"). The district court denied a subsequent motion by NPC to vacate the summary judgment and allow NPC to amend its complaint.

We affirm.

Background

On April 7, 1980, in response to the seizure by Iranian militants of the United States embassy in Tehran and the taking of fifty-two American diplomatic personnel as hostages, President Carter severed diplomatic relations with Iran and issued Executive Order 12205,  [**3]  45 Fed. Reg. 24,099 (1980). The order proscribed, inter alia, "the sale, supply or other transfer, by any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, of any items, commodities or products . . . from the United States . . . either to or destined for Iran," with certain exceptions not presently pertinent. Id. 

In June 1980, NPC, the parent company and purchasing agent for a number of Iranian subsidiaries, and a subsidiary that purchased for its own account, Abadan Petrochemical Company, sought to purchase supplies of certain urgently needed chemicals, ethylhexanol ("EH"), orthoxylene ("OX"), and ethylene dichloride ("EDC"), for delivery to Iran. The mutual trade embargoes existing between the United States and Iran, ¹ however, rendered NPC's prior sources unavailable. NPC therefore approached various traders and brokers in order to secure new sources of supply.

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