Rual Trade Ltd. v. Viva Trade LLC, 07-C-1015 (E.D. Wisc. Apr. 28, 2008) [click for opinion]    

Plaintiff Rual Trade Ltd. (”Rual”) brought an action in state court asserting breach of contract and related claims against defendants Viva Trade LLC (”Viva”), a Wisconsin limited liability company, and Lithuanian citizens Vladimir Romanov (”Vladimir”), Roman Romanov (”Roman”) and Ukio Bankas Investicine Group (”UBIG”) (Vladimir, Roman and UBIG collectively referred to as the “Lithuanian defendants”). Defendants removed the case pursuant to 9 U.S.C. § 205, which authorizes the removal of cases relating to arbitration proceedings under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (”New York Convention“). Once in federal court, Rual moved for a default judgment against Viva for failure to file a timely answer, and Viva and the Lithuanian defendants brought separate motions to dismiss Rual’s complaint based on forum non conveniens, lack of personal jurisdiction and failure to state a claim.