Sinochem International Co. v. Malaysia International Shipping Corp.

(Slip Opinion) OCTOBER TERM, 2006 1

Syllabus

NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is

being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued.

The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been

prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader.

See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337.

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

Syllabus

SINOCHEM INTERNATIONAL CO. LTD. v. MALAYSIA

INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING CORP.

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR

THE THIRD CIRCUIT

No. 06–102. Argued January 9, 2007 —Decided March 5, 2007

A contract between petitioner (Sinochem), a Chinese state-owned im

porter, and a domestic corporation not a party here (Triorient) pro

vided that Sinochem would purchase steel coils and that Triorient

would be paid under a letter of credit by producing a valid bill of lad

ing certifying that the coils had been loaded for shipment to China on

or before April 30, 2003. Triorient subchartered a vessel owned by

respondent (Malaysia International), a Malaysian company, to trans

port the coils, and hired a stevedoring company to load the coils in

Philadelphia. A bill of lading, dated April 30, 2003, triggered pay

ment under the letter of credit. Sinochem petitioned a Chinese admi

ralty court for preservation of a maritime claim against Malaysia In

ternational and arrest of the vessel, alleging that the Malaysian

company had falsely backdated the bill of lading. The Chinese court

ordered the ship arrested, and Sinochem timely filed a complaint in

that tribunal. The Chinese admiralty court rejected Malaysia Inter

national’s jurisdictional objections to Sinochem’s complaint and that

ruling was affirmed on appeal.

Shortly after the Chinese admiralty court ordered the vessel’s ar

rest, Malaysia International filed this action in a United States Dis

trict Court, asserting that Sinochem’s preservation petition to the

Chinese court contained misrepresentations, and seeking compensa

tion for losses sustained due to the ship’s arrest. Sinochem moved to

dismiss on several grounds, including lack of subject-matter and per

sonal jurisdiction and the doctrine of forum non conveniens, under

which a federal district court may dismiss an action if a court abroad

is the more appropriate and convenient forum for adjudicating the

controversy. The District Court determined it had subject-matter ju

2 SINOCHEM INT’L CO. v. MALAYSIA INT’L SHIPPING

CORP.

Syllabus

risdiction over the cause, concluded it lacked personal jurisdiction

over Sinochem under Pennsylvania law, conjectured that limited dis

covery might reveal that it had personal jurisdiction under Federal

Rule of Civil Procedure 4(k)(2), but dismissed on forum non conven

iens grounds, finding that the case could be adjudicated adequately

and more conveniently in the Chinese courts. Agreeing that there

was subject-matter jurisdiction and that personal jurisdiction could

not be resolved sans discovery, the Third Circuit panel held that the

District Court could not dismiss the case under the forum non con

veniens doctrine unless and until it determined definitively that it

had both subject-matter and personal jurisdiction.

Held: A district court has discretion to respond at once to a defendant’s

forum non conveniens plea, and need not take up first any other

threshold objection. In particular, a court need not resolve whether it

has authority to adjudicate the cause (subject-matter jurisdiction) or

personal jurisdiction over the defendant if it determines that, in any

event, a foreign tribunal is the more suitable arbiter of the merits of

the case. Pp. 5–12.

(a) A federal court has discretion to dismiss on forum non conven

iens grounds “when an alternative forum has jurisdiction to hear

[the] case, and . . . trial in the chosen forum would establish . . . op

pressiveness and vexation to a defendant . . . out of all proportion to

plaintiff’s convenience, or . . . the chosen forum [is] inappropriate be

cause of considerations affecting the court’s own administrative and

legal problems.” American Dredging Co. v. Miller, 510 U. S. 443,

447–448. Such a dismissal reflects a court’s assessment of a “range of

considerations, most notably the convenience to the parties and the

practical difficulties that can attend the adjudication of a dispute in a

certain locality.” Quackenbush v. Allstate Ins. Co., 517 U. S. 706,

723. A defendant invoking forum non conveniens ordinarily bears a

heavy burden in opposing the plaintiff’s chosen forum. When the

plaintiff’s choice is not its home forum, however, the presumption in

the plaintiff’s favor “applies with less force,” for the assumption that

the chosen forum is appropriate is then “less reasonable.” Piper Air

craft Co. v. Reyno, 454 U. S. 235, 255–256. Pp. 5–6.

(b) Although a federal court generally may not rule on the merits of

a case without first determining that it has jurisdiction over the

cause (subject-matter jurisdiction) and the parties (personal jurisdic

tion), see Steel Co. v. Citizens for Better Environment, 523 U. S. 83,

93–102, there is no mandatory sequencing of nonmerits issues, see

Ruhrgas AG v. Marathon Oil Co., 526 U. S. 574, 584. A court has

leeway “to choose among threshold grounds for denying audience to a

case on the merits,” Id., at 585. Pp. 7–8.

(c) Forum non conveniens is a nonmerits ground for dismissal. See

Cite as: 549 U. S. ____ (2007) 3

Syllabus

American Dredging, 510 U. S., at 454; Chick Kam Choo v. Exxon

Corp., 486 U. S. 140, 148. A district court therefore may dispose of

an action by a forum non conveniens dismissal, bypassing questions

of subject-matter and personal jurisdiction, when considerations of

convenience, fairness, and judicial economy so warrant. Forum non

conveniens, like other threshold issues, may involve a brush with

“factual and legal issues of the underlying dispute.” Van Cauwen

berghe v. Biard, 486 U. S. 517, 529. But the critical point, rendering

a forum non conveniens determination a nonmerits issue that can be

determined before taking up jurisdictional inquiries is this: Resolving

a forum non conveniens motion does not entail any assumption by the

court of substantive law-declaring power. Statements in Gulf Oil

Corp. v. Gilbert, 330 U. S. 501, that “forum non conveniens can never

apply if there is absence of jurisdiction,” id., at 504, and that “[i]n all

cases in which . . . forum non conveniens comes into play, it presup

poses at least two forums in which the defendant is amenable to

process,” id., at 506–507, account in large part for the Third Circuit’s

conclusion. Those statements draw their meaning from the context

in which they were embedded. Gulf Oil answered in the affirmative

the question whether a court that had jurisdiction over the cause and

the parties and was a proper venue could nevertheless dismiss the

action under the forum non conveniens doctrine. Gulf Oil did not ad

dress the issue decided here: whether a federal court can presume,

rather than dispositively decide, its jurisdiction before dismissing

under the doctrine of forum non conveniens. The quoted statements,

confined to the setting in which they were made, are no hindrance to

the decision reached today. The Third Circuit’s further concern—

that a court failing first to establish its jurisdiction could not condi

tion a forum non conveniens dismissal on the defendant’s waiver of

any statute of limitations defense or objection to the foreign forum’s

jurisdiction, and thus could not shield the plaintiff against a foreign

tribunal’s refusal to entertain the suit—is not implicated on these

facts. Malaysia International faces no genuine risk that the more

convenient forum will not take up the case. This Court therefore

need not decide whether a court conditioning a forum non conveniens

dismissal on the waiver of jurisdictional or limitations defenses in the

foreign forum must first determine its own authority to adjudicate

the case. Pp. 8–11.

(d) This is a textbook case for immediate forum non conveniens dis

missal. The District Court’s subject-matter jurisdiction presented an

issue of first impression in the Third Circuit, and was considered at

some length by the courts below. Discovery concerning personal ju

risdiction would have burdened Sinochem with expense and delay to

scant purpose: The District Court inevitably would dismiss the case

4 SINOCHEM INT’L CO. v. MALAYSIA INT’L SHIPPING

CORP.

Syllabus

without reaching the merits, given its well-considered forum non

conveniens appraisal. Judicial economy is disserved by continuing

litigation in the District Court given the proceedings long launched in

China. And the gravamen of Malaysia International’s complaint—

misrepresentations to the Chinese admiralty court in securing the

vessel’s arrest in China—is an issue best left for determination by the

Chinese courts. If, as in the mine run of cases, a court can readily de

termine that it lacks jurisdiction over the cause or the defendant, the

proper course would be to dismiss on that ground. But where sub

ject-matter or personal jurisdiction is difficult to determine, and fo

rum non conveniens considerations weigh heavily in favor of dis

missal, the court properly takes the less burdensome course. Pp. 11–

12.

436 F. 3d 349, reversed and remanded.

GINSBURG, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.

Cite as: 549 U. S. ____ (2007) 1

Opinion of the Court

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the

preliminary print of the United States Reports. Readers are requested to

notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash

ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order

that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press.

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

_________________

No. 06–102

_________________

SINOCHEM INTERNATIONAL CO. LTD., PETITIONER

v. MALAYSIA INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING

CORPORATION

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF

APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

[March 5, 2007]

JUSTICE GINSBURG delivered the opinion of the Court.

This case concerns the doctrine of forum non conveniens,

under which a federal district court may dismiss an action

on the ground that a court abroad is the more appropriate

and convenient forum for adjudicating the controversy.

We granted review to decide a question that has divided

the Courts of Appeals: “Whether a district court must first

conclusively establish [its own] jurisdiction before dismiss

ing a suit on the ground of forum non conveniens?” Pet.

for Cert. i. We hold that a district court has discretion to

respond at once to a defendant’s forum non conveniens

plea, and need not take up first any other threshold objec

tion. In particular, a court need not resolve whether it has

authority to adjudicate the cause (subject-matter jurisdic

tion) or personal jurisdiction over the defendant if it de

termines that, in any event, a foreign tribunal is plainly

the more suitable arbiter of the merits of the case.

I

The underlying controversy concerns alleged misrepre

sentations by a Chinese corporation to a Chinese admi

2 SINOCHEM INT’L CO. v. MALAYSIA INT’L SHIPPING

CORP.

Opinion of the Court

ralty court resulting in the arrest of a Malaysian vessel in

China. In 2003, petitioner Sinochem International Com

pany Ltd. (Sinochem), a Chinese state-owned importer,

contracted with Triorient Trading, Inc. (Triorient), a do

mestic corporation that is not a party to this suit, to pur

chase steel coils. Pursuant to the agreement, Triorient

would receive payment under a letter of credit by produc

ing a valid bill of lading certifying that the coils had been

loaded for shipment to China on or before April 30, 2003.

Memorandum and Order of Feb. 27, 2004, No. Civ. A. 03–

3771 (ED Pa.), App. to Pet. for Cert. 48a–49a (hereinafter

Feb. 27 Memo & Order).

Triorient subchartered a vessel owned by respondent

Malaysia International Shipping Corporation (Malaysia

International), a Malaysian company, to transport the

coils to China. Triorient then hired a stevedoring com

pany to load the steel coils at the Port of Philadelphia. A

bill of lading, dated April 30, 2003, triggered payment

under the letter of credit. Id., at 49a.

On June 8, 2003, Sinochem petitioned the Guangzhou

Admiralty Court in China for interim relief, i.e., preserva

tion of a maritime claim against Malaysia International

and arrest of the vessel that carried the steel coils to

China. In support of its petition, Sinochem alleged that

the Malaysian company had falsely backdated the bill of

lading. The Chinese tribunal ordered the ship arrested

the same day. Id., at 50a; App. in No. 04–1816 (CA3), pp.

56a–57a (Civil Ruling of the Guangzhou Admiralty Court).

Thereafter, on July 2, 2003, Sinochem timely filed a

complaint against Malaysia International and others in

the Guangzhou Admiralty Court. Sinochem’s complaint

repeated the allegation that the bill of lading had been

falsified resulting in unwarranted payment. Malaysia

International contested the jurisdiction of the Chinese

tribunal. Feb. 27 Memo & Order, at 50a; App. in No. 04–

1816 (CA3), pp. 52a–53a (Civil Complaint in Guangzhou

Cite as: 549 U. S. ____ (2007) 3

Opinion of the Court

Admiralty Court). The admiralty court rejected Malaysia

International’s jurisdictional objection, and that ruling

was affirmed on appeal by the Guangdong Higher People’s

Court. App. 16–23.

On June 23, 2003, shortly after the Chinese court or

dered the vessel’s arrest, Malaysia International filed the

instant action against Sinochem in the United States

District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Malaysia International asserted in its federal court plead

ing that Sinochem’s preservation petition to the Guang

zhou court negligently misrepresented the “vessel’s fitness

and suitability to load its cargo.” Feb. 27 Memo & Order,

at 50a (internal quotation marks omitted). As relief,

Malaysia International sought compensation for the loss it

sustained due to the delay caused by the ship’s arrest.

Sinochem moved to dismiss the suit on several grounds,

including lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, lack of per

sonal jurisdiction, forum non conveniens, and interna

tional comity. App. in No. 04–1816 (CA3), pp. 14a–20a,

39a–40a.

The District Court first determined that it had subject-

matter jurisdiction under 28 U. S. C. §1333(1) (admiralty

or maritime jurisdiction). Feb. 27 Memo & Order, at 51a–

54a. The court next concluded that it lacked personal

jurisdiction over Sinochem under Pennsylvania’s long-arm

statute, 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. §5301 et seq. (2002). Neverthe

less, the court conjectured, limited discovery might reveal

that Sinochem’s national contacts sufficed to establish

personal jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Civil Proce

dure 4(k)(2). Feb. 27 Memo & Order, at 55a–63a. The

court did not permit such discovery, however, because it

determined that the case could be adjudicated adequately

and more conveniently in the Chinese courts. Id., at 63a–

69a; Memorandum and Order of Apr. 13, 2004, No. Civ. A.

03–3771 (ED Pa.), App. to Pet. for Cert. 40a–47a (herein

after Apr. 13 Memo & Order) (denial of Rule 59(e) motion).

4 SINOCHEM INT’L CO. v. MALAYSIA INT’L SHIPPING

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Opinion of the Court

No significant interests of the United States were in

volved, the court observed, Feb. 27 Memo & Order, at 65a–

67a; Apr. 13 Memo & Order, at 44a–47a, and while the

cargo had been loaded in Philadelphia, the nub of the

controversy was entirely foreign: The dispute centered on

the arrest of a foreign ship in foreign waters pursuant to

the order of a foreign court. Feb. 27 Memo & Order, at

67a. Given the proceedings ongoing in China, and the

absence of cause “to second-guess the authority of Chinese

law or the competence of [Chinese] courts,” the District

Court granted the motion to dismiss under the doctrine of

forum non conveniens. Id., at 68a.

A panel of the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

agreed there was subject-matter jurisdiction under

§1333(1), and that the question of personal jurisdiction

could not be resolved sans discovery. Although the court

determined that forum non conveniens is a nonmerits

ground for dismissal, the majority nevertheless held that

the District Court could not dismiss the case under the

forum non conveniens doctrine unless and until it deter

mined definitively that it had both subject-matter jurisdic

tion over the cause and personal jurisdiction over the

defendant. 436 F. 3d 349 (CA3 2006).

Judge Stapleton dissented. Requiring a district court to

conduct discovery on a jurisdictional question when it

“rightly regards [the forum] as inappropriate,” he main

tained, “subverts a primary purpose of” the forum non

conveniens doctrine: “protect[ing] a defendant from . . .

substantial and unnecessary effort and expense.” Id., at

368. The “court makes no assumption of law declaring

power,” Judge Stapleton observed, “when it decides not to

exercise whatever jurisdiction it may have.” Id., at 370

(quoting Ruhrgas AG v. Marathon Oil Co., 526 U. S. 574,

584 (1999), in turn quoting In re Papandreou, 139 F. 3d

247, 255 (CADC 1998)).

We granted certiorari, 548 U. S. ___ (2006), to resolve a

Cite as: 549 U. S. ____ (2007) 5

Opinion of the Court

conflict among the Circuits on whether forum non conven

iens can be decided prior to matters of jurisdiction. Com

pare 436 F. 3d, at 361–364 (case below); Dominguez-Cota

v. Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., 396 F. 3d 650, 652–654 (CA5

2005) (per curiam) (jurisdictional issues must be resolved

in advance of a forum non conveniens ruling), with Intec

USA, LLC v. Engle, 467 F. 3d 1038, 1041 (CA7 2006); In re

Arbitration Between Monegasque de Reassurances S. A. M.

(Monde Re) v. NAK Naftogaz of Ukraine, 311 F. 3d 488,

497–498 (CA2 2002); In re Papandreou, 139 F. 3d, at 255–

256 (forum non conveniens may be resolved ahead of juris

dictional issues). Satisfied that forum non conveniens

may justify dismissal of an action though jurisdictional

issues remain unresolved, we reverse the Third Circuit’s

judgment.

II

A federal court has discretion to dismiss a case on the

ground of forum non conveniens “when an alternative

forum has jurisdiction to hear [the] case, and . . . trial in

the chosen forum would establish . . . oppressiveness and

vexation to a defendant . . . out of all proportion to plain

tiff’s convenience, or . . . the chosen forum [is] inappropri

ate because of considerations affecting the court’s own

administrative and legal problems.” American Dredging

Co. v. Miller, 510 U. S. 443, 447–448 (1994) (quoting Piper

Aircraft Co. v. Reyno, 454 U. S. 235, 241 (1981), in turn

quoting Koster v. (American) Lumbermens Mut. Casualty

Co., 330 U. S. 518, 524 (1947)). Dismissal for forum non

conveniens reflects a court’s assessment of a “range of

considerations, most notably the convenience to the par

ties and the practical difficulties that can attend the adju

dication of a dispute in a certain locality.” Quackenbush v.

Allstate Ins. Co., 517 U. S. 706, 723 (1996) (citations omit

ted). We have characterized forum non conveniens as,

essentially, “a supervening venue provision, permitting

6 SINOCHEM INT’L CO. v. MALAYSIA INT’L SHIPPING

CORP.

Opinion of the Court

displacement of the ordinary rules of venue when, in light

of certain conditions, the trial court thinks that jurisdic

tion ought to be declined.” American Dredging, 510 U. S.,

at 453; cf. In re Papandreou, 139 F. 3d, at 255 (forum non

conveniens “involves a deliberate abstention from the

exercise of jurisdiction”).

The common-law doctrine of forum non conveniens “has

continuing application [in federal courts] only in cases

where the alternative forum is abroad,” American Dredg

ing, 510 U. S., at 449, n. 2, and perhaps in rare instances

where a state or territorial court serves litigational con

venience best. See 14D C. Wright, A. Miller, & E. Cooper,

Federal Practice and Procedure §3828, pp. 620–623, and

nn. 9–10 (3d ed. 2007). For the federal-court system,

Congress has codified the doctrine and has provided for

transfer, rather than dismissal, when a sister federal court

is the more convenient place for trial of the action. See 28

U. S. C. §1404(a) (“For the convenience of parties and

witnesses, in the interest of justice, a district court may

transfer any civil action to any other district or division

where it might have been brought.”); cf. §1406(a) (“The

district court of a district in which is filed a case laying

venue in the wrong division or district shall dismiss, or if

it be in the interest of justice, transfer such case to any

district or division in which it could have been brought.”);

Goldlawr, Inc. v. Heiman, 369 U. S. 463, 466 (1962) (Sec

tion 1406(a) “authorize[s] the transfer of [a] cas[e] . . .

whether the court in which it was filed had personal juris

diction over the defendants or not.”).

A defendant invoking forum non conveniens ordinarily

bears a heavy burden in opposing the plaintiff’s chosen

forum. When the plaintiff’s choice is not its home forum,

however, the presumption in the plaintiff’s favor “applies

with less force,” for the assumption that the chosen forum

is appropriate is in such cases “less reasonable.” Piper

Aircraft Co., 454 U. S., at 255–256.

Cite as: 549 U. S. ____ (2007) 7

Opinion of the Court

III

Steel Co. v. Citizens for Better Environment, 523 U. S. 83

(1998), clarified that a federal court generally may not

rule on the merits of a case without first determining that

it has jurisdiction over the category of claim in suit (sub

ject-matter jurisdiction) and the parties (personal jurisdic

tion). See id., at 93–102. “Without jurisdiction the court

cannot proceed at all in any cause”; it may not assume

jurisdiction for the purpose of deciding the merits of the

case. Id., at 94 (quoting Ex parte McCardle, 7 Wall. 506,

514 (1869)).

While Steel Co. confirmed that jurisdictional questions

ordinarily must precede merits determinations in disposi

tional order, Ruhrgas held that there is no mandatory

“sequencing of jurisdictional issues.” 526 U. S., at 584. In

appropriate circumstances, Ruhrgas decided, a court may

dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction without first es

tablishing subject-matter jurisdiction. See id., at 578.

Both Steel Co. and Ruhrgas recognized that a federal

court has leeway “to choose among threshold grounds for

denying audience to a case on the merits.” Ruhrgas, 526

U. S., at 585; Steel Co., 523 U. S., at 100–101, n. 3. Dis

missal short of reaching the merits means that the court

will not “proceed at all” to an adjudication of the cause.

Thus, a district court declining to adjudicate state-law

claims on discretionary grounds need not first determine

whether those claims fall within its pendent jurisdiction.

See Moor v. County of Alameda, 411 U. S. 693, 715–716

(1973). Nor must a federal court decide whether the par

ties present an Article III case or controversy before ab

staining under Younger v. Harris, 401 U. S. 37 (1971). See

Ellis v. Dyson, 421 U. S. 426, 433–434 (1975). A dismissal

under Totten v. United States, 92 U. S. 105 (1876) (prohib

iting suits against the Government based on covert espio

nage agreements), we recently observed, also “represents

the sort of ‘threshold question’ [that] . . . may be resolved

8 SINOCHEM INT’L CO. v. MALAYSIA INT’L SHIPPING

CORP.

Opinion of the Court

before addressing jurisdiction.” Tenet v. Doe, 544 U. S. 1,

7, n. 4 (2005). The principle underlying these decisions

was well stated by the Seventh Circuit: “[J]urisdiction is

vital only if the court proposes to issue a judgment on the

merits.” Intec USA, 467 F. 3d, at 1041.

IV

A forum non conveniens dismissal “den[ies] audience to

a case on the merits,” Ruhrgas, 526 U. S., at 585; it is a

determination that the merits should be adjudicated

elsewhere. See American Dredging, 510 U. S., at 454;

Chick Kam Choo v. Exxon Corp., 486 U. S. 140, 148 (1988).

The Third Circuit recognized that forum non conveniens

“is a non-merits ground for dismissal.” 436 F. 3d, at 359.

Accord In re Papandreou, 139 F. 3d, at 255; Monde Re, 311

F. 3d, at 497–498. A district court therefore may dispose

of an action by a forum non conveniens dismissal, bypass

ing questions of subject-matter and personal jurisdiction,

when considerations of convenience, fairness, and judicial

economy so warrant.

As the Third Circuit observed, Van Cauwenberghe v.

Biard, 486 U. S. 517, 527–530 (1988), does not call for a

different conclusion. See 436 F. 3d, at 359–360. Biard

presented the question whether a district court’s denial of

a motion to dismiss on the ground of forum non conveniens

qualifies for immediate appeal under the collateral order

doctrine of Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp., 337

U. S. 541 (1949). Biard, 486 U. S., at 527. The Court held

that a refusal to dismiss for forum non conveniens, an

interlocutory order, does not fall within the circumscribed

collateral order exception to the firm final judgment rule

generally governing federal court proceedings. In that

context, the Court observed that some factors relevant to

forum non conveniens, notably what evidence will bear on

the plaintiff’s claim or on defenses to the claim, “will

substantially overlap factual and legal issues of the under

Cite as: 549 U. S. ____ (2007) 9

Opinion of the Court

lying dispute.” Id., at 529.

That observation makes eminent sense when the ques

tion is whether an issue is so discrete from the merits as to

justify departure from the rule that a party may not ap

peal until the district court has rendered a final judgment

disassociating itself from the case. See Coopers & Ly

brand v. Livesay, 437 U. S. 463, 468 (1978) (“To come

within the ‘small class’ of decisions excepted from the

final-judgment rule by Cohen, the order must conclusively

determine the disputed question, resolve an important

issue completely separate from the merits of the action,

and be effectively unreviewable on appeal from a final

judgment.”). Biard’s point, however, does not carry over to

the question here at issue.

Of course a court may need to identify the claims pre

sented and the evidence relevant to adjudicating those

issues to intelligently rule on a forum non conveniens

motion. But other threshold issues may similarly involve

a brush with “factual and legal issues of the underlying

dispute.” Biard, 486 U. S., at 529. For example, in ruling

on the nonmerits threshold question of personal jurisdic

tion, a court may be called upon to determine whether a

defendant’s contacts with the forum relate to the claim

advanced by the plaintiff. See, e.g., Ruhrgas, 526 U. S., at

581, n. 4 (noting that the District Court’s holding that it

lacked personal jurisdiction rested on its conclusion “that

Marathon had not shown that Ruhrgas pursued the al

leged pattern of fraud and misrepresentation during the

Houston meetings”). The critical point here, rendering a

forum non conveniens determination a threshold, nonmer

its issue in the relevant context, is simply this: Resolving a

forum non conveniens motion does not entail any assump

tion by the court of substantive “law-declaring power.”

See id., at 584–585 (quoting In re Papandreou, 139 F. 3d,

at 255).

Statements in this Court’s opinion in Gulf Oil Corp. v.

10 SINOCHEM INT’L CO. v. MALAYSIA INT’L SHIPPING

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Opinion of the Court

Gilbert, 330 U. S. 501 (1947), account in large part for the

Third Circuit’s conclusion that forum non conveniens can

come into play only after a domestic court determines that

it has jurisdiction over the cause and the parties and is a

proper venue for the action. See 436 F. 3d, at 361–362.

The Court said in Gulf Oil that “the doctrine of forum non

conveniens can never apply if there is absence of jurisdic

tion,” 330 U. S., at 504, and that “[i]n all cases in which

. . . forum non conveniens comes into play, it presupposes

at least two forums in which the defendant is amenable to

process,” id., at 506–507.

Those statements from Gulf Oil, perhaps less than

“felicitously” crafted, see Tr. of Oral Arg. 14, draw their

meaning from the context in which they were embedded.

The question presented in Gulf Oil was whether a court

fully competent to adjudicate the case, i.e., one that

plainly had jurisdiction over the cause and the parties and

was a proper venue, could nevertheless dismiss the action

under the forum non conveniens doctrine. The Court

answered that question “yes.”

As to the first statement—that “forum non conveniens

can never apply if there is absence of jurisdiction”—it is of

course true that once a court determines that jurisdiction

is lacking, it can proceed no further and must dismiss the

case on that account. In that scenario “forum non conven

iens can never apply.”

The second statement—that forum non conveniens

“presupposes at least two forums” with authority to adju

dicate the case—was made in response to the Gulf Oil

plaintiff’s argument to this effect: Because the federal

forum chosen by the plaintiff possessed jurisdiction and

venue was proper, the court was obliged to adjudicate the

case. See 330 U. S., at 504 (explaining that a court’s

statutory empowerment to entertain a suit “does not settle

the question whether it must do so”). Notably, in speaking

of what the forum non conveniens doctrine “presupposes,”

Cite as: 549 U. S. ____ (2007) 11

Opinion of the Court

the Court said nothing that would negate a court’s author

ity to presume, rather than dispositively decide, the pro

priety of the forum in which the plaintiff filed suit.

In sum, Gulf Oil did not present the question we here

address: whether a federal court can dismiss under the

forum non conveniens doctrine before definitively ascer

taining its own jurisdiction. Confining the statements we

have quoted to the setting in which they were made, we

find in Gulf Oil no hindrance to the decision we reach

today.

The Third Circuit expressed the further concern that a

court failing first to establish its jurisdiction could not

condition a forum non conveniens dismissal on the defen

dant’s waiver of any statute of limitations defense or

objection to the foreign forum’s jurisdiction. Unable so to

condition a dismissal, the Court of Appeals feared, a court

could not shield the plaintiff against a foreign tribunal’s

refusal to entertain the suit. 436 F. 3d, at 363, and n. 21.

Accord In re Papandreou, 139 F. 3d, at 256, n. 6. Here,

however, Malaysia International faces no genuine risk

that the more convenient forum will not take up the case.

Proceedings to resolve the parties’ dispute are underway

in China, with Sinochem as the plaintiff. Jurisdiction of

the Guangzhou Admiralty Court has been raised, deter

mined, and affirmed on appeal. We therefore need not

decide whether a court conditioning a forum non conven

iens dismissal on the waiver of jurisdictional or limitations

defenses in the foreign forum must first determine its own

authority to adjudicate the case.

V

This is a textbook case for immediate forum non conven

iens dismissal. The District Court’s subject-matter juris

diction presented an issue of first impression in the Third

Circuit, see 436 F. 3d, at 355, and was considered at some

length by the courts below. Discovery concerning personal

12 SINOCHEM INT’L CO. v. MALAYSIA INT’L SHIPPING

CORP.

Opinion of the Court

jurisdiction would have burdened Sinochem with expense

and delay. And all to scant purpose: The District Court

inevitably would dismiss the case without reaching the

merits, given its well-considered forum non conveniens

appraisal. Judicial economy is disserved by continuing

litigation in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania given the

proceedings long launched in China. And the gravamen of

Malaysia International’s complaint—misrepresentations

to the Guangzhou Admiralty Court in the course of secur

ing arrest of the vessel in China—is an issue best left for

determination by the Chinese courts.

If, however, a court can readily determine that it lacks

jurisdiction over the cause or the defendant, the proper

course would be to dismiss on that ground. In the mine

run of cases, jurisdiction “will involve no arduous inquiry”

and both judicial economy and the consideration ordinarily

accorded the plaintiff’s choice of forum “should impel the

federal court to dispose of [those] issue[s] first.” Ruhrgas,

526 U. S., at 587–588. But where subject-matter or per

sonal jurisdiction is difficult to determine, and forum non

conveniens considerations weigh heavily in favor of dis

missal, the court properly takes the less burdensome

course.

* * *

For the reasons stated, the judgment of the Court of

Appeals is reversed, and the case is remanded for proceed

ings consistent with this opinion.

It is so ordered.