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Saudi Basic Industries Corp. v. Mobil Yanbu Petrochemical Co.1/14/2005
d damages above the amount, if any, you awarded for breach of contract based upon any profits you may determine SABIC derived by using in its operation the money, if any, that was usurped from YANPET or KEMYA. Damages for usurpation may not include any interest.
Any appellate determination of whether a jury was afforded sufficient guidance in exercising its fact-finding discretion on a given issue, must necessarily depend upon the law that governs that issue and the instruction that the trial court gave (or refused to give) on that subject. In this case, the only specific request SABIC made to the trial court to furnish such guidance, was that the court instruct the jury on six factors that Mr. Wolfson suggested might possibly enter into a Saudi judge's perception of the equities in this case. The trial judge declined to give the requested instruction, for two reasons. The first was that the requested instruction did not represent established Saudi law; the second was that to give the requested instruction would likely confuse and mislead the jury. The trial court's analysis of these concerns, as reflected in her post-trial denial of SABIC's motion for judgment as a matter of law or, alternatively, a new trial on the damages issue, is thoroughly textured, well-reasoned, and, in our view, dispositive of SABIC's claim of error.
The trial judge's first reason for not instructing the jury on the six "Wolfson factors" was that they did not represent established Saudi law:
It is important to place the six factors articulated by Mr. Wolfson in the proper context. It is clear from the context in which Mr. Wolfson offered this testimony that he was not stating that these factors were Saudi law, that the factors were exclusive, or that consideration of these factors was required. To the contrary, these factors, according to Mr. Wolfson[,] are non-exclusive considerations that "might possibly enter into a Saudi judge's perception of the equities" in this case. Mr. Wolfson clearly opined that " Saudi Arabian judge enjoys considerable discretion to rule in a manner leading to what he perceives as a fair and just result." .. The Court did not find during the Saudi law hearing, nor does it find now, that Mr. Wolfson's list of factors reflects established Saudi law.based upon the authoritative texts.. The Court noted during the Saudi law hearing that Professor Hallaq and Dr. Vogel did not identify any such list of factors and there was no evidence to suggest that such a list of factors had ever been embraced by the Hanbali school. Nowhere in Dr. Vogel's pretrial affidavits or in his post-trial affidavits does he provide the Court with authority in the Hanbali texts or otherwise to support a jury instruction on these.factors.. nd while the Court certainly considered Mr. Wolfson's list of factors in the context [in which] they were presented.the Court believed then, as it does now, that it would be error to instruct the jury on these factors. The Court did not want to supply to the jury an incomplete list of factors or suggest factors that, under Saudi law, are not "factors" embraced by the Hanbali school.
The trial judge's second reason was that to instruct on those factors would confuse and mislead the jury:
Moreover, the Court did not believe that the jury would be able to meaningfully engage in an analysis of each of the factors without creating tremendous confusion and uncertainty. This situation is a good example of the difficulty in applying Saudi law in a jury trial. A Saudi judge exercises tremendous discretion and is not bound by precedent. A Saudi judge is free to consider whatever evidence he feels is worth considering and disposing of any evidence he does not
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