Wuxi Taihu Tractor Co. v. York Group, Inc.
Wuxi Taihu Tractor Co. v. York Group, Inc.
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiff-Appellant Wuxi Taihu Tractor Company, Ltd., filed this action for a bill of review in Texas’s 157th judicial district, seeking relief from a July 2007 default judgment rendered in a previous state-
This is one of three related lawsuits between Wuxi, a citizen of China, and De-fendanh-Appellee The York Group, Inc., a citizen of Delaware and Pennsylvania. The first suit was an action that York brought against Wuxi in Texas’s 165th judicial district in 2006. York claimed unfair competition and tortious interference with contract, alleging that Wuxi was copying and distributing York’s casket designs. Wuxi appeared and filed an answer, which included an objection to York’s failure to properly serve Wuxi. Wuxi subsequently failed to follow various orders of the state court, which entered a default judgment against Wuxi on July 26, 2007. The judgment enjoined Wuxi from copying York’s caskets or distributing copied caskets in the United States. Wuxi did not appeal. At no point was the 2006 state-court action removed to federal court.
York later concluded that Wuxi was violating the injunction. Seeking to enforce the 2007 judgment, York brought a second suit against Wuxi in Texas’s 129th judicial district on July 15, 2008. Wuxi removed the enforcement action to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas on July 29, 2008. Wuxi asserted diversity jurisdiction.
Wuxi filed the instant action for a bill of review in Texas’s 157th judicial district on December 16, 2008. York removed the bill of review action to federal court on January 5, 2009. Wuxi moved to remand the bill of review action to state court, and York moved for summary judgment on the merits. The district court denied the motion to remand and granted York’s summary judgment motion.
We review the denial of a motion to remand for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction de novo. Allen v. R & H Oil & Gas Co.
In Barrow v. Hunton,
Barrow’s holding applies “when an action in federal court seeks to nullify or to enforce the judgment of a prior state court suit.” Beighley v. FDIC.
Judgment VACATED; case DISMISSED.
Pursuant to 5th Cir. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Cir. R. 47.5.4.
. Wuxi also asserted federal question jurisdiction. Though it contains a tangential reference to the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1051 et seq., York's pleading in the enforcement action did not assert any federal claim.
. Wuxi Taihu Tractor Co., Ltd. v. York Group, Inc., 766 F.Supp.2d 803, 812 (S.D.Tex. 2011).
. 63 F.3d 1326, 1336 (5th Cir. 1995).
. 99 U.S. 80, 25 L.Ed. 407 (1878).
. 868 F.2d 776, 781 (5th Cir. 1989) (emphasis removed), superceded by statute on other grounds as stated in Tedford v. Warner-Lambert Co., 327 F.3d 423, 428 n. 14 (5th Cir. 2003).
. 154 S.W.3d 93, 96 (Tex. 2004).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.