FEUERSTEIN, District Judge.
Plaintiff, Societe Cameroonaise d'Assurance et de Reassurance, n/k/a SOCAR Liquidation ("SOCAR" or "Plaintiff"), files this subrogation action against The Boeing Company ("Boeing") and Pratt & Whitney ("P & W") for damages arising out of a 1984 aircraft incident in the Republic of Cameroon. Boeing and P & W (collectively, "Defendants") had manufactured and sold a plane to Cameroon Airlines that later caught fire in a Cameroonian airport. SOCAR, as the insurer of Cameroon Airlines, now seeks indemnification from Defendants for SOCAR's insurance payments that arose out of the aircraft incident.
Defendants have moved to dismiss, arguing that SOCAR's suit is untimely pursuant to two (2) New York statutes of limitations; SOCAR contends that its action is timely pursuant to a Cameroonian statute of repose. The motion to dismiss is granted, and the action is dismissed with prejudice.
SOCAR is "a parastatal corporation now under liquidation renamed SOCAR Liquidation
Boeing is incorporated in Delaware and "at such times as are relevant hereto, was doing business in the State of New York." [DE 21, Am. Compl., at ¶ 4]. Counsel for Boeing represents that the company is incorporated in Delaware and has its principal place of business in Illinois. [DE 32-1, Defs.' Op. Br., at 3]. Boeing manufactured and sold the Boeing Model 737200 aircraft with registration number TJCBD that caught fire on August 30, 1984 at the Cameroonian airport (the "Boeing Plane"). [DE 21, Am. Compl., at ¶¶ 6, 10].
P & W is incorporated in Delaware and "at such times as are relevant hereto, was doing business in the State of New York." Id. at ¶ 5. Counsel for P & W indicates that it is incorporated in Delaware and has its principal place of business in Connecticut. [DE 32-1, Defs.' Op. Br., at 2-3]. P & W manufactured and sold the JT8D-15 jet engines that were incorporated into the Boeing Plane. [DE 21, Am. Compl., at ¶ 7].
On August 30, 1984, Cameroon Airlines was using the Boeing Plane for a commercial flight from Douala International Airport in Douala, Cameroon to Yaoundé, Cameroon. Id. at ¶ 9. While preparing for take off, the Boeing Plane caught on fire, killing three (3) passengers and injuring another seventy-two (72) (the "Aircraft Fire"). Id. at ¶¶ 10-11. The fire started when "fragments of one of the PW JT8D-15 jet engines ... ruptured the wing fuel tank of the" Boeing Plane. Id. at ¶ 12. SOCAR was the insurer of Cameroon Airlines at the time of the incident. See supra note 3.
On August 29, 2014, SOCAR filed the present action seeking one-hundred-fifty-four million dollars ($154 million) in subrogation for the insurance payments that it paid on behalf of Cameroon Airlines to the victims of the Aircraft Fire and for property damage to the Boeing Plane. [DE 1, Compl.]. Defendants have jointly moved to
On a motion to dismiss, this Court accepts all factual allegations in the amended complaint as true and draws all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff. Wendell Bail Bonding Co. No. 0811 v. Cuomo, No. 10-cv-4022, 2011 WL 5546929, at *1 (E.D.N.Y. Nov. 10, 2011). The Court's review is limited to the factual allegations contained in the operative complaint, documents attached to the complaint as exhibits or incorporated by reference, matters of which judicial notice may be taken, and documents within the plaintiff's possession or of which the plaintiff had knowledge and relief on in bringing suit. Pompey v. Imagistics Pitney Bowes Office Sys., No. 04-cv-3923, 2005 WL 1320153, at *1 (E.D.N.Y. May 26, 2005) (citing Brass v. Am. Film Techs., Inc., 987 F.2d 142, 150 (2d Cir.1993)).
"Subrogation is the right one party has against a third party following payment, in whole or in part, of a legal obligation that ought to have been met by the third party." Allstate Ins. Co. v. Mazzola, 175 F.3d 255, 258 (2d Cir.1999) (internal citation omitted). The doctrine of equitable subrogation allows insurers to "stand in the shoes" of their insured to seek indemnification by pursuing any claims that the insured may have had against third parties legally responsible for the loss. Id. (internal citation omitted); United States v. California, 507 U.S. 746, 756, 113 S.Ct. 1784, 123 L.Ed.2d 528 (1993). Under New York law, an insurer's subrogation claim is subject to the same statute of limitations applicable to the original underlying claim (such as a breach of contract claim) that gave rise to the derivative subrogation claim. Stewart v. Atwood, 834 F.Supp.2d 171, 181 (W.D.N.Y. 2012); Allstate Ins. Co. v. Stein, 1 N.Y.3d 416, 420-21, 775 N.Y.S.2d 219, 807 N.E.2d 268 (N.Y.2004).
A complaint may be dismissed as untimely under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) when a plaintiff's factual allegations demonstrate that relief would be barred by the applicable statute of limitations. Ines Figueroa v. Ponce De Leon Fed. Bank, No. 11-cv-7633, 2012 WL 3264552, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 10, 2012) (citing Jones v. Bock, 549 U.S. 199, 214-15, 127 S.Ct. 910, 166 L.Ed.2d 798 (2007)). In diversity cases, a federal court located in New York will generally apply the choiceof-law rules and statute of limitations of the law of the forum state, not the law of the state in which the action accrued. Morson v. Kreindler & Kreindler, LLP, 814 F.Supp.2d 220, 225 (E.D.N.Y.2011); Stuart v. Am. Cyanamid Co., 158 F.3d 622, 626-27 (2d Cir.1998). The general rule, however, is subject to a statutory exception: New York's "borrowing statute," or C.P.L.R. § 202 ("Section 202"). Stuart, 158 F.3d at 627; N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 202.
Pursuant to Section 202, where a plaintiff, not a resident of New York, sues upon a cause of action that arose outside of New York, a district court must apply the shorter limitations period of either: 1) New York; or 2) the state where the cause of action "accrued." See Stuart, 158 F.3d at 627; N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 202. The statute provides:
N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 202.
SOCAR has raised three (3) legal claims against Defendants for: 1) negligence; 2) breach of warranty; and 3) products liability. In this subrogation action, SOCAR stands in the shoes of its insured, Cameroon Airlines, and is subject to all defenses as would have been available against Cameroon Airlines, such as the statute of limitations. Because this is a diversity case involving a nonresident plaintiff, Section 202 governs whether New York's statute of limitations or Cameroon's statutory equivalent applies to the action.
New York's statutes of limitations are three (3) years for product liability and personal injury claims. See C.P.L.R. §§ 214(4) and (5). The computation of
As a result, under New York law, SOCAR's subrogation claims on the underlying personal injury and product liability claims expired three (3) years after the Aircraft Fire, or on August 30, 1987. Although the complaint does not plead when the Boeing Plane was presumably first delivered to Cameroon Airlines, the statute of limitations for SOCAR's subrogation claim on the underlying breach of warranty claim expired, at the very latest, four (4) years after the discovery of the breach, or the date of the Aircraft Fire: August 30, 1988. SOCAR's action on all three (3) of its legal claims is therefore untimely under New York law.
SOCAR contends that Cameroon Civil Code Article 2262 governs as the applicable statute of repose. See Cameroon Civil Code Art. 2262; DE 32-4, Pl.'s Opp'n Br., at 5 (quoting Decl. of Laurent K. Messi, Esq., dated Mar. 30, 2015). Article 2262 provides:
[DE 32-4, Pl.'s Opp'n Br., at 5 (quoting Decl. of Laurent K. Messi, Esq., dated Mar. 30, 2015)]. "Prescription" is defined as "a means of extinction of a legal right as a result of the inaction of a petitioner during a certain period of time." Cameroon Civil Code Art. 2219.
"Because Art. 2262 is a statute of repose, not a statute of limitations," SOCAR argues, "[C.P.L.R.] § 202 does not require application of New York's three-year products liability limitations period or its four-year breach of warranty limitations period to SOCAR's claims." [DE 32-4, Pl.'s Opp'n Br., at 1; See id. at 8 ("Because, as discussed above, Cameroon Civil Code Art. 2262 is a substantive statute of repose, not a procedural statute of limitations, CPLR § 202 is inapplicable.")]. As SOCAR filed its present action one day short of the thirty (30) year prescriptive period set forth in Article 2262, it claims that its action is therefore timely. In opposition, Defendants assert that Article 2262 is inapplicable, but that even if it were to govern, Article 2262 is a typical statute of limitations and not a statute of repose, such that C.P.L.R. § 202 would mandate the application of New York's statute of limitations over Cameroon's statutory equivalent. [DE 34-5, Defs.' Joint Reply Br., at 4].
This Court need not perform a fact-specific analysis of whether Cameroon's Article 2262 is either a substantive statute of repose or procedural statute of limitations under New York law. C.P.L.R. § 202 applies "regardless" of whether Article 2262 is classified as a statute of repose or statute of limitations. See Stuart v. Am. Cyanamid Co., 158 F.3d 622, 627
For the reasons stated above, Plaintiff's action is untimely, and Defendants' motion to dismiss is granted. The case is dismissed with prejudice, and the Clerk of the Court is directed to close the case.