UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS August 19, 2024

Christopher M. Wolpert FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT Clerk of Court _________________________________

UNITEDNET LTD.; LEVI RUSSELL,

Plaintiffs - Appellants,

v. No. 23-2057

TATA COMMUNICATIONS AMERICA, INC.; TATA COMMUNICATIONS INDIA; TATA SONS PRIVATE, LTD.; STEVEN LUCERO; LATINGROUP, LLC,

Defendants - Appellees. _________________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico (D.C. No. 1:21-CV-01081-KWR-JFR) _________________________________

Scott Fuqua of Fuqua Law & Policy, P.C., Santa Fe, New Mexico, for Plaintiffs - Appellants.

Douglas D. Janicik (Karl Tilleman with him on the brief) of Dentons US LLP, Phoenix, Arizona, for Defendants - Appellees Steven Lucero and LatinGroup, LLC.

Philip D. Robben (Randall L. Morrison Jr. with him on the brief) of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, New York, New York, for Defendants - Appellees Tata Communications India, Ltd. and Tata Sons Private, Ltd.

Katherine A. McNamara of Fraser Stryker PC LLO, Omaha, Nebraska, for Defendant - Appellee Tata Communications America, Inc. _________________________________

Before BACHARACH, McHUGH, and MORITZ, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ Appellate Case: 23-2057 Document: 010111096500 Date Filed: 08/19/2024 Page: 2

MORITZ, Circuit Judge. _________________________________

This case arises from a foreign business deal gone wrong. In 2016, Unitednet,

Ltd., a United Kingdom company, entered into an agreement to purchase a fiber-optic

telecommunications network owned by three foreign companies that are part of a

multinational conglomerate described in the complaint as the “Tata Communications

empire.” App. vol. 1, 3. But Steven Lucero, a New Mexico resident and key player in

the deal, allegedly conspired with three other Tata companies to sink the deal so that

he could purchase the network through his company based in New Mexico,

LatinGroup, LLC. After the deal fell apart, Unitednet and its director, United

Kingdom resident Levi Russell, filed this action in New Mexico federal district court.

They asserted tortious interference with a contract and related claims against Lucero,

LatinGroup, and the three Tata companies that allegedly participated in the

conspiracy. But the district court dismissed the case under the doctrine of forum non

conveniens, determining that the United Kingdom was a more appropriate forum for

the litigation. Because the district court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that

foreign law applies and that the private and public interests at stake favor dismissal

for forum non conveniens, we affirm.

Background

The facts of this case, as alleged in the complaint, describe a failed business

deal that began in 2013, when Tata Sons Private, Ltd., an Indian investment holding

2 Appellate Case: 23-2057 Document: 010111096500 Date Filed: 08/19/2024 Page: 3

company, decided to sell all noncore assets of the Tata empire to pay down its debt.1

One such asset was a fiber-optic telecommunications network that runs from the

United Kingdom to the Netherlands. Through family connections to the Tata empire,

Lucero learned of the sale and agreed to purchase the network “at a price well below

market value” via his company, LatinGroup. Id. at 4. In early 2014, LatinGroup

formally entered into a preliminary agreement to purchase the netwo

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