Aldana v. Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A., Inc.

At issue in this appeal is whether the district court abused its considerable discretion in dismissing the appellants’ suit on forum non conveniens grounds. The seven appellants (Angel Enrique Villeda Aldana, Jorge Agustín Palma Romero, Oscar Leonel Guerra Evans, Lyionhel Mclntosch Rodriguez, Marel Martinez, Gumerzindo Loyo Martinez, and Rigoberto Alvayero Hernandez) allege that they were tortured in retaliation for their leadership of a Guatemalan national labor union in violation of the Alien Tort Act (“ATA”) and the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 (“TVPA”). Having extensively analyzed the adequacy of a Guatemalan forum, and the various private and public interests involved in the case, the district court granted appellees’ (Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc., Compañía de Desarollo Bananero de Guatemala, S.A. (“Bandegua”), and Del Monte Fresh Produce Company) motion to dismiss. After thorough review, we discern no clear abuse of discretion, and, accordingly affirm.

I. Background

A. Factual Background

The underlying suit in this case arose out of a protracted labor dispute that took place in Guatemala in 1999. At that time, SITRABI, a Guatemalan national trade union of plantation workers, was negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement for workers at a large banana plantation owned by Bandegua, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Del Monte, located in the municipality of Morales, Izabal.

During the negotiations, Bandegua terminated 918 workers. In response, SI-TRABI filed a complaint in the Labor Court of Guatemala. Thereafter, Bandegua allegedly hired a private armed security force to intimidate the appellants, all of whom were SITRABI officials. Specifically, the complaint alleges that on the evening of October 13, 1999, the security force — consisting of over 200 heavily armed men — arrived at SITRABI’s headquarters in Morales. They held two of the appellants hostage, threatening to kill them, and shoving them with guns. As the evening wore on, other SITRABI leaders were lured or forced to come to the union’s headquarters, where they, too, were held hostage.

All seven appellants were then harangued by the leader of the security force, who claimed to be the president of the municipal chamber of commerce. He complained that their union activities had caused the economic difficulties that had developed in the area. The mayor of Morales and a mayoral candidate later arrived on the scene. A decision was made to take two of the appellants to a radio station. They claim they were forced at gunpoint to denounce the union, to declare that they were resigning, and to announce that the labor dispute was over.

The two appellants were then taken back to the headquarters, where they were presented with a resignation form allegedly faxed from Del Monte or Bandegua. After signing the forms at gunpoint, the appellants were released. In all, they had been detained for roughly eight hours. They were warned by the leader of the security force that they would be killed if they refused to leave Guatemala or relocate to Mexico. All of the appellants sub*1287sequently moved to the United States. As part of an agreement with the Guatemalan government, they were granted political asylum in the United States in exchange for agreeing to testify in Guatemala against them alleged attackers.

B. Relevant Procedural History

We address the lengthy procedural history of this case because it is essential to understanding our resolution of the appeal. The appellants filed their complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida on August 2, 2001. The complaint asserted causes of action for torture under both the Torture Victim Protection Act (“TVPA”), 28 U.S.C. § 1350, and the Alien Tort Act (“ATA”) (or the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”)), 28 U.S.C. § 1350.1 They also alleged causes of action arising under the ATA for arbitrary detention, crimes against humanity, and cruel, degrading, and inhumane treatment. In addition, the complaint advanced various claims under Florida’s tort laws.

In 2003, the appellees moved to dismiss the case on the grounds of forum non conveniens. The district court denied the motion.2 Villeda Aldana v. Fresh Del Monte Produce, Inc., No. 01-3399, slip op. (S.D. Fla. June 5, 2003). In a subsequent ruling, however, the court dismissed the complaint, holding that the conduct alleged did not amount to torture under the TVPA or ATA, and also because diversity jurisdiction was lacking. Villeda Aldana v. Fresh Del Monte Produce, Inc., 305 F.Supp.2d 1285, 1308 (S.D.Fla.2003). The trial court also declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367. Id.

The appellants appealed the dismissal to this Court, while simultaneously bringing their state law claims in Florida’s circuit court in Dade County. Appellees, in turn, moved the state court to dismiss on forum non conveniens grounds. One central point of contention was whether, given the concern for the appellants’ safety, they would be required to attend the proceedings if the suit were litigated in Guatemala. After hearing expert testimony from each side, the state court accepted appellees’ claim that, under Guatemalan law, the appellants would not be required to return. However, as a precautionary measure, the court said that it would reconsider its dismissal order if the appellants were in fact required to return to Guatemala in connection with the trial. That decision was affirmed by an intermediate appellate court in Florida. Aldana v. Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc., 922 So.2d 212 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.2006) (table).

In the meantime, a panel of this Court affirmed the district court’s dismissal of all of the appellants’ claims except the torture claims arising under the Alien Tort Act and the Torture Victim Protection Act. Aldana v. Del Monte Fresh Produce, N.A., Inc., 416 F.3d 1242, 1253 (11th Cir.2005) (per curiam), en banc reh’g denied, 452 F.3d 1284 (11th Cir.2006), cert. denied, 549 U.S. 1032, 127 S.Ct. 596, 166 L.Ed.2d 431 (2006). After the case was remanded to the district court, the appellees again moved to dismiss on forum non conveniens grounds. The matter was referred to a magistrate judge, who, after holding a hearing, issued a Report and Recommendation (“R&R”) recommending that the motion be denied.

After reviewing the R&R, however, the district court rejected the magistrate judge’s recommendations and granted ap*1288pellees’ motion to dismiss. Villeda Aldana v. Fresh Del Monte Produce, Inc., No. 01-3399-CIV, 2007 WL 3054986, at *1 (S.D.Fla. Oct. 16, 2007). In particular, the district court concluded that it was precluded under the doctrine of collateral estoppel, and by the Full Faith and Credit Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1783, from relitigating issues decided by the state court’s forum non conveniens decision. Following the state court’s findings where necessary, the district court thus found that each prong of the forum non conveniens inquiry favored dismissal. As we discuss in greater detail below, the district court found that Guatemala afforded the appellants an adequate alternative forum for the resolution of their claims; and that all of the relevant private interest and public interest factors weighed heavily in favor of having the dispute adjudicated in Guatemala. Like the state court, however, the district court added that the dismissal was “without prejudice to Plaintiffs right to seek reconsideration if any of the Plaintiffs are required to appear in person in Guatemala in order to litigate their claims.” Id. at *6.

This timely appeal followed.

II. Standards of Review

We - review de novo whether the district court erred in failing to adhere to its initial order denying appellees’ forum non conveniens motion as the law of the case. Transamerica Leasing, Inc. v. Inst. of London Underwriters, 430 F.3d 1326, 1331 (11th Cir.2005) (“We review application of the law of the case doctrine de novo.”); Alphamed, Inc. v. B. Braun Med., Inc., 367 F.3d 1280, 1285 (11th Cir.2004). The question whether to give preclusive effect to a state court’s judgment is a question of law, and thus also is reviewed de novo. See, e.g., Far Out Prods., Inc. v. Oskar, 247 F.3d 986, 993 (9th Cir.2001) (“Because deciding whether to apply issue preclusion (also referred to as collateral estoppel) is a question of law, we review de novo a district court’s refusal to give a state court judgment preclusive effect.”).

It is also well settled in our decisional law that “[w]e may only reverse a district court’s dismissal based on forum non conveniens if it constitutes a clear abuse of discretion.” Membreno v. Costa Crociere S.p.A., 425 F.3d 932, 935-36 (11th Cir.2005). And it is well settled that abuse of discretion review is “extremely limited” and “highly deferential.” In re Clerici, 481 F.3d 1324, 1331 (11th Cir.2007) (United Kingdom v. United States, 238 F.3d 1312, 1319 (11th Cir.2001)); see also Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno, 454 U.S. 235, 257, 102 S.Ct. 252, 70 L.Ed.2d 419 (1981) (“[Wjhere the court has considered all relevant public and private interest factors, and where its balancing of these factors is reasonable, its decision deserves substantial deference.”). Thus, when we employ the abuse of discretion standard, “we must affirm unless we find that the district court has made a clear error of judgment, or has applied the wrong legal standard.” United States v. Frazier, 387 F.3d 1244, 1259 (11th Cir.2004) (en banc). Notably, abuse of discretion review acknowledges that “there is a range of choice for the district court and so long as its decision does not amount to a clear error of judgment we will not reverse even if we would have gone the other way had the choice been ours to make.” McMahan v. Toto, 256 F.3d 1120, 1128 (11th Cir.2001).

III. Law of the Case

Appellants first argue as a threshold matter that the district court was prohibited by the law of the case doctrine from reconsidering its earlier order denying the appellees’ first forum non conveniens motion to dismiss. We find little merit in this claim.

Under the law of the case doctrine, “an issue decided at one stage of a case is *1289binding at later stages of the same case.” United States v. Escobar-Urrego, 110 F.3d 1556, 1560 (11th Cir.1997). Notably, however, “a court’s previous rulings may be reconsidered as long as the case remains within the jurisdiction of the district court.” Vintilla v. United States, 931 F.2d 1444, 1447 (11th Cir.1991) (quotation marks omitted). “Consequently, ‘law of the case applies only where there has been a final judgment.’ ” Id. (quoting Gregg v. United States Indus., Inc., 715 F.2d 1522, 1530 (11th Cir.1983)). Here, the district court’s first forum non conveniens judgment was not final. Van Cauwenberghe v. Biard, 486 U.S. 517, 527, 108 S.Ct. 1945, 100 L.Ed.2d 517 (1988) (“We conclude, however, as have the majority of the Courts of Appeals that have considered the issue, that the question of the convenience of the forum is not completely separate from the merits of the action, and thus is not immediately appealable as of right.”) (quotation marks and citations omitted); Ford v. Brown, 319 F.3d 1302, 1304 n. 2 (11th Cir.2003) (although forum non conveniens order was nonfinal, court of appeals had jurisdiction to review it pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b)). Hence, the district court’s initial decision did not constitute the law of the case.

Moreover, even if the district court’s first forum non conveniens decision had constituted the law of the case, the district court still would have acted permissibly in departing from it. As we have explained, the “law of the case doctrine does not ... require rigid adherence to rulings made at an earlier stage of a case in all circumstances.” Murphy v. F.D.I.C., 208 F.3d 959, 966 (11th Cir.2000). In particular, we have carved out three principal exceptions to the law of the case doctrine: “when (1) a subsequent trial produces substantially different evidence (2) controlling authority has since made a contrary decision of law applicable to that issue or (3) the law-of-the-case is clearly erroneous and will work manifest injustice if not if not reconsidered.” Culpepper v. Irwin Mortg. Corp., 491 F.3d 1260, 1271 (11th Cir.2007) (quotation marks omitted).

The second of the exceptions is applicable here: the state court’s forum non conveniens dismissal is a contrary decision of law applicable to the issue made by a controlling legal authority. Under the Full Faith and Credit Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1738, the district court was bound in significant measure by the opinion of the state court, which was issued after the district court initially denied appellees’ forum non conveniens motion to dismiss.

Hence, the district court’s initial order denying the appellees’ forum non conveniens motion to dismiss does not constitute the law of the case, and the district court was accordingly free to reconsider the issue and reach a different conclusion regarding the instant forum non conveniens motion.

IV. The District Court’s Forum Non Conveniens Analysis

It is by now clear that the forum non conveniens test used by Florida state courts is identical to the test applied by the federal courts. Indeed, the Florida Supreme Court has explicitly adopted the federal law of forum non conveniens. See Kinney Sys., Inc. v. Cont’l Ins. Co., 674 So.2d 86, 93 (Fla.1996) (“[W]e are persuaded that the time has come for Florida to adopt the federal doctrine of forum non conveniens.”); see also Aquamar, S.A. v. Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A., Inc., 179 F.3d 1279, 1283 n. 2 (11th Cir.1999) (noting that in Kinney, the Florida Supreme Court adopted the federal courts’ forum non conveniens analysis as announced in Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, 330 U.S. 501, 67 S.Ct. 839, 91 L.Ed. 1055 (1947)). Under both bodies of law, a forum non conveniens dismissal is appropriate where:

*1290(1) the trial court finds that an adequate alternate forum exists which possesses jurisdiction over the whole case, including all of the parties;

(2) the trial court finds that all relevant factors of private interest favor the alternate forum, weighing in the balance a strong presumption against disturbing plaintiffs’ initial forum choice;

(3) if the balance of private interests is at or near equipoise, the court further finds that factors of public interest tip the balance in favor of trial in the alternate forum; and

(4) the trial judge ensures that plaintiffs can reinstate their suit in the alternate forum without undue inconvenience or prejudice.

Del Campo Bacardi v. de Lindzon, 845 So.2d 33, 36 n. 1 (Fla.2002) (citing Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.061); see also Membreno, 425 F.3d at 937.

We believe the district court adequately performed each step of the forum non conveniens analysis, and did not abuse its discretion in concluding that the appellees met their burden to establish that a dismissal on forum non conveniens grounds was warranted.

A. Adequate Alternative Forum

The appellants first challenge the district court’s conclusion that the initial “adequate alternative forum” prong of the forum non conveniens inquiry was fully met. The first prong of the forum non conveniens inquiry simply asks whether the alternative forum is “adequate” and “available.” Membreno, 425 F.3d at 937. As we have observed, availability and adequacy are separate issues. Leon v. Million Air, Inc., 251 F.3d 1305, 1311 (11th Cir.2001). In order to be available, the foreign court must be able to “assert jurisdiction over the litigation sought to be transferred.” Id. As for adequacy, we have observed that it is only in “rare circumstances” where “the remedy offered by the other forum is clearly unsatisfactory,” that the alternative forum may be regarded as inadequate. Satz v. McDonnell Douglas Corp., 244 F.3d 1279, 1283 (11th Cir.2001) (quotation marks omitted). “The alternative forum prong of the analysis generally will be satisfied when the defendant is amenable to process in the other jurisdiction.” Id. at 1282 (quotation marks omitted). Indeed, the Supreme Court has instructed us that a remedy is inadequate when it amounts to “no remedy at all.” Id. at 1283 (quoting Piper Aircraft, 454 U.S. at 254, 102 S.Ct. 252).

The state court found that both of these requirements had been met. Specifically, the state court observed that “Guatemala possesses jurisdiction over the entire case, including all of the parties.” State Court Order at 2. The state court also determined, based on consideration of expert testimony, that the appellants would not need to appear during the proceedings in Guatemala, and that, accordingly, litigating the case in Guatemala would pose no threat to the appellants’ safety. Id. Finally, the state court rejected the appellants’ claim that Guatemala was an inadequate forum because “lenient sentences” were given to certain of the individuals who were criminally prosecuted in connection with the underlying events giving rise to the case. Id. The district court, concluding that it was bound by these judgments, likewise determined that Guatemala qualified as an adequate alternative forum. Villeda Aldana v. Fresh Del Monte Produce, Inc., No. 01-3399-CIV, 2007 WL 3054986, at *3 (S.D.Fla. Oct. 16, 2007).

The appellants argue, nevertheless, that the district court abused its discretion by relying on the state court’s determination that Guatemala was an adequate alternative forum, instead of conducting its own inquiry into the issue. The appellants con*1291tend that Guatemala is not an adequate forum for two reasons: first, because it is not safe for them; and second, because Guatemalan courts are beset by corruption and are ill-equipped to adjudicate a case, like this one, that implicates political conditions and officials. We are unpersuaded.

We do not take lightly the appellants’ first contention — that Guatemala is not safe for them. Nevertheless, even if the district court were not bound by the state court’s opinion on this point, the argument still fails, because it is premised on the concern that the appellants might be required to return to Guatemala. As we have already noted, both the state court’s and the district court’s forum non conveniens dismissals contained an express proviso that the appellants’ motions would be reconsidered if there is ever any indication that they might be required to return to Guatemala.

In addition to citing the possibility of danger, the appellants also argue that Guatemala is an inadequate forum because of alleged corruption affecting the nation’s legal system. Specifically, they contend:

Plaintiffs presented the District Court with substantial evidence that Guatemala is ill-equipped to adjudicate a case challenging the use of clandestine security forces to torture trade unionists in a country where trade unionists are routinely murdered, and judges turn a blind eye to such violence. While mere corruption in a foreign judicial system may be insufficient to render a forum insufficient, if the level of impunity renders the remedy offered by the alternative forum “so clearly inadequate or unsatisfactory that it is no remedy at all,” the forum cannot be considered an adequate, alternative forum.

Appellants’ Br. at 31-32.

Again, this argument fails because the state court specifically found that Guatemala’s courts were adequate. Under the doctrine of collateral estoppel, a court is precluded from relitigating an issue “when the identical issue has been litigated between the same parties and the particular matter was fully litigated and determined in a contest that results in a final decision of a court of competent jurisdiction.” Paresky v. Miami-Dade County Bd. of County Comm’rs, 893 So.2d 664, 665-66 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.2005). In this case, the district court was thus bound by the state court’s factual and legal conclusions on the issue of adequacy of forum. Since it was bound by the state court’s conclusion, the district court did not err in failing to find that Guatemala’s courts were inadequate due to corruption.3

*1292In short, the district court did not abuse its discretion in determining that Guatemala represented an adequate alternative forum.

B. Private Interest Factors

Appellants next challenge the district court’s consideration of private interest factors and its conclusion that the private interests weighed heavily in favor of dismissal on forum non conveniens grounds. In particular, the appellants argue that the district court erred in considering only those factors considered by the state court and in giving insufficient weight to the appellants’ choice of forum. We disagree.

In Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, 330 U.S. 501, 67 S.Ct. 839, 91 L.Ed. 1055 (1947), the Supreme Court outlined the relevant public and private interest factors. In considering the private interests, the Court listed these:

Important considerations are the relative ease of access to sources of proof; availability of compulsory process for attendance of unwilling, and the cost of obtaining attendance of willing, witnesses; possibility of view of premises, if view would be appropriate to the action; and all other practical problems that make trial of a case easy, expeditious and inexpensive. There may also be questions as to the enforceability of a judgment if one is obtained.

Id. at 508, 67 S.Ct. 839. We have continued to recite the same list of private interests ever since Gilbert. See, e.g., Liquidation Comm’n of Banco Intercontinental, S.A. v. Renta, 530 F.3d 1339, 1356 (11th Cir.2008) (“Pertinent private interests of the litigants include relative ease of access to evidence in the competing fora, availability of witnesses and compulsory process over them, the cost of obtaining evidence, and the enforceability of a judgment.”); Membreno, 425 F.3d at 937 (quoting Gilbert); SME Racks, Inc. v. Sistemas Mecanicos Para Electronica, S.A., 382 F.3d 1097, 1101 (11th Cir.2004).

Following the state court, the district court addressed each of the Gilbert factors. Specifically, the district court considered the ease of access to sources of proof, noting that the alleged misconduct occurred in Guatemala, and that the vast majority of documentary evidence was located in Guatemala; the district court discussed the cost of obtaining the attendance of witnesses, observing that all of the witnesses except for the appellants were located in Guatemala, and that significant expense would be incurred in transporting them to the United States; the district court examined its ability to compel the attendance of unwilling witnesses, explaining that all of the witnesses except for the appellants lived in Guatemala, and therefore could not be compelled to attend the proceedings; and the district court took account of additional practical and logistical difficulties — for example, the need to *1293translate documents written in Spanish, and the linguistic barriers resulting from the fact that few of the witnesses were able to speak English. Aldana, 2007 WL 3054986, at *4.4

The district court also considered the plaintiffs’ choice of forum. In doing so, the district court correctly noted that its analysis of this factor was not dictated by the state court’s analysis, because the relevant forum for purposes of the state forum non conveniens analysis is the state of Florida, whereas the relevant forum for purposes of the federal analysis is the United States as a whole. Id. On this factor, the district court recognized that the appellants were not residents of the chosen forum for purposes of the state analysis (none of them resided in Florida), but were residents of the chosen forum for purposes of the federal analysis (since all of them resided in the United States). The trial court observed that plaintiffs’ choice of forum is entitled to substantial deference where the plaintiffs are residents of the chosen forum, and thus the district court determined that, in contrast to the state court’s inquiry, the appellants’ choice of forum was a significant factor weighing in the their favor. Despite the strong presumption in favor of the appellants’ chosen forum, however, the district court reasoned that this single factor was outweighed by all of the countervailing private interests that favored a Guatemalan forum. Indeed, the district court concluded that the private interest factors so overwhelmingly favored Guatemala that it was unnecessary to consider the public interest factors at all. Id. at *5.

We find no clear abuse of discretion in the district court’s forum non conveniens analysis. The district court correctly observed that it was bound by the state court’s analysis of each of the individual private interest factors, but not by the state court’s analysis of the plaintiffs choice of forum. Moreover, the district court clearly recognized that, since the appellants lived in their chosen forum for the purposes of the federal analysis, this factor weighed heavily in their favor. The district court squarely took account of our requirement that there be “positive evidence of unusually extreme circumstances,” and that the court be “thoroughly convinced that material injustice is manifest before exercising any such discretion as may exist to deny a United States citizen access to the courts of this country.” Aldana, 2007 WL 3054986, at *3 (citing SME Racks, 382 F.3d at 1101-02).

At the same time, the district court also correctly pointed out that the plaintiffs’ forum choice alone is not dispositive. Rather, as the Supreme Court has explained, its forum non conveniens cases “have repeatedly emphasized the need to retain flexibility” and have underscored *1294that “each case turns on its facts.” Piper Aircraft Co., 454 U.S. at 249, 102 S.Ct. 252 (quotation marks omitted). The Court has further explained that if “central emphasis were placed on any one factor, the forum non conveniens doctrine would lose much of the very flexibility that makes it so valuable.” Id. at 249-50, 102 S.Ct. 252. Thus, while the plaintiffs’ choice of forum has traditionally been regarded as particularly important, it is ultimately only a proxy for determining the convenience of litigating in one forum instead of another, and that, at bottom, “the central focus of the forum non conveniens inquiry is convenience.” Id.

Here, the district court found that the plaintiffs’ choice of forum was the only private interest factor weighing in the appellants’ favor, whereas each of the other private interest factors — i.e., the relative ease of access to sources of proof, which in this case were located predominately in Guatemala; the cost of obtaining attendance of willing witnesses, who in this case were also almost entirely in Guatemala; the ability to compel the unwilling witnesses, which in this case was lacking for the witnesses who lived in Guatemala; and additional practical and logistical issues, which in this case included the need to translate documents, and other linguistic barriers — favored a forum non conveniens dismissal. The trial court concluded that the lineup of private interest factors found in this case constituted “ ‘positive evidence of unusually extreme circumstances,’ ” Aldana, 2007 WL 3054986, at *5 (quoting SME Racks, 382 F.3d at 1102), sufficient to override the real presumption in favor of the plaintiffs’ forum choice, and that on the whole, the balance of private interest factors strongly favored Guatemala as the forum for this case. It was only after precise and careful analysis that the district court came to this conclusion. We thus see no basis for the appellants’ claim that the district court “disregarded completely Plaintiffs’ choice of forum,” Appellants’ Br. at 34, nor any ground for concluding that this aspect of the court’s analysis amounted to a clear abuse of discretion.

The dissent argues that the district court abused its discretion in concluding that it was collaterally estopped from considering private interests beyond those considered by the state court, and, therefore, by failing to consider additional private interests — specifically, the appellants’ interest in appearing in person at trial, and the prejudice appellants were likely to suffer as a result of the delay in having to begin litigation anew in Guatemala. We disagree.5

As an initial matter, we do not share the dissent’s assumption that the district court indeed regarded itself as precluded by the doctrine of collateral estoppel from considering private interests beyond those considered by the state court. In its order, the court merely says that “[b]ecause the private interest factors involved in forum non conveniens cases are identical in Florida and federal law, this Court is precluded from considering a different list of private interests.” Aldana, 2007 WL 3054986, at *4. Nowhere in its discussion of this issue does the district court mention the principle of collateral estoppel or make any mention of the state court’s opinion. In our view, the district court could just as well be understood as saying something quite different — for example, that since the federal and state forum non conveniens doctrines are the same, the district court was required to apply the factors listed in Gil*1295bert, despite the fact that the state court followed Florida law. To be sure, the meaning of the district court’s order on this point is not self-evident. But we see no reason to accept the dissent’s interpretation, particularly when that interpretation gives rise to complexities that alternative interpretations do not.

In any event, regardless of whether the district court was bound (or thought it was bound) by collateral estoppel to consider only those factors addressed by the state court, we cannot agree that the district court abused its discretion in failing to consider these additional factors. For one thing, as we have noted, the district court’s analysis took account of each of the paradigmatic private interest factors enumerated in our case law. Again, since the Supreme Court’s decision in Gilbert, we have continued to enumerate the private interest factors as including “[the] relative ease of access to evidence in the competing fora, availability of witnesses and compulsory process over them, the cost of obtaining evidence, and the enforceability of a judgment.” Renta, 530 F.3d at 1356. Where, as here, the district court has adequately considered each of these factors, we are loath to find a clear abuse of discretion.

We further point out that, under these circumstances, obliging a district court to consider factors not considered by a state court would give rise to a number of substantial difficulties. For example, given the potentially limitless number of private interests, it is virtually always possible for a reviewing court to identify additional interests that a district court might have considered. District court forum non conveniens rulings would possess very little finality if they could be overturned on appeal by second-guessing the district court’s decision to limit itself to a particular set of interests, especially where those interests mirror precisely the factors that the Supreme Court has explicitly enumerated.

In a similar way, in virtually any case, a district court could very likely identify any number of private interests beyond those considered in an otherwise preclusive state court forum non conveniens determination. Once a district court begins to examine private interests beyond those considered by a state court — particularly where the state court has considered each of the factors listed by the Supreme Court in Gilbert — there would appear to be no easy way of cabining the number of such interests the district court might take into account. By invoking a sufficient number of additional interests, a district court might easily end up conducting an inquiry entirely different from the one performed by the state court and arriving at a balance contrary to the one reached by the state court. In essence, this would allow a federal court regularly to nullify or circumvent an otherwise preclusive state court forum non conveniens judgment.

Finally, and most importantly, we are not convinced that consideration of the additional factors suggested by the dissent would indeed alter the balance of private interest factors in any meaningful way. For one thing, appellants’ claimed interest in being present at trial and in testifying in person does not seem to weigh very heavily in the appellants’ favor here, because the interest in being present and testifying at trial is shared by both appellants and appellees. While the appellants are not likely to testify in person if the case is tried in Guatemala (due to safety concerns), many defense witnesses would not testify in person if the case were tried in the United States (because they are not subject to the court’s compulsory process). In other words, the interest in being present at trial in this case may be a wash.

*1296Nor are we convinced that the overall balance of private interests would be significantly affected by the second private interest cited by the dissent — that of avoiding the prejudice caused by the delay of having litigation over again if the case were dismissed.6 At the outset, it is unclear that avoiding delay ought to be considered a “private interest” at all, as opposed to a consideration relevant to the “adequate alternative forum” step of the forum non conveniens inquiry.7 Indeed, in many cases, federal courts have considered the issue of delay as falling under the latter rubric.8 Even if the issue of delay should be taken into account — and taken into account as a private interest — there is still little reason to think that the balance of the private interests would be meaningfully altered as a result. The appellants *1297point out that the case has been pending for some six years. But, “there is generally no time limit on when a motion to dismiss for forum non conveniens must be made, which differentiates it from the time limits on a motion to dismiss for improper venue.” Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller, & Edward H. Cooper, 14D Fed. Prac. & Proc. Juris.3d § 3828 (3d ed.2008). And indeed, courts have upheld the forum non conveniens dismissal of cases pending for as long as, if not longer than, the instant case. See, e.g., Empresa Lineas Maritimas Argentinas, S.A. v. Schichau-Unterweser, A.G., 955 F.2d 368, 373 (5th Cir.1992) (case’s stage of development did not weigh against dismissal even though underlying suit was filed eight years before and even though “much work ha[d] been done on th[e] case”).

The appellants also claim that the district court’s dismissal was an abuse of discretion given the amount of discovery conducted so far in the case. In point of fact, however, discovery in this case has been relatively limited, focused largely on jurisdictional questions rather than on the merits. According to the appellants, when the district court granted the forum non conveniens motion, the parties “had exchanged written discovery responses and documents, and were in the midst of supplementing such responses and preparing for depositions.” Appellants’ Reply Br. at 23. This Court, and others, have upheld forum non conveniens dismissals in cases where more discovery had been conducted. In Sigalas v. Lido Mar., Inc., 776 F.2d 1512 (11th Cir.1985), for example, we upheld the district court’s forum non conveniens dismissal at the pretrial conference stage, “after lengthy discovery when [the case] was ready to be tried on the merits.” Id. at 1520; see also Lony v. E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co., 935 F.2d 604, 614 (3d Cir.1991) (“[W]e hold today that whenever discovery in a case has proceeded substantially so that the parties already have invested much of the time and resources they will expend before trial, the presumption against dismissal on the grounds of forum non conveniens greatly increases.”); Gates Learjet Corp. v. Jensen, 743 F.2d 1325, 1335 (9th Cir.1984) (“That trial preparation had progressed nearly to the point of trial certainly was a relevant factor when the district court considered whether trial of the case in Arizona would have been more easy, expeditious and inexpensive than trial in the Philippines.”) (quotation marks omitted, emphasis added); cf. Mercier v. Sheraton Int'l, Inc. 981 F.2d 1345, 1357 (1st Cir.1992) (merits activity “never approached the level which was held to preclude dismissal in Lony or to weigh against dismissal Gates”).9

*1298In short, none of the concerns raised by the dissent persuades us that the district court was obliged to consider private interest factors beyond the ones that it covered in its analysis. Again, this is not to say that the district court’s conclusion was the only reasonable one, or that another court could not reasonably have come to a different conclusion, or even that if we were writing on a clean slate we wouldn’t have reached the opposite conclusion. We say, however, only that the district court could reasonably find that, with the exception of the plaintiffs’ choice of forum, all of the private interest factors weighed in favor of dismissal, and that, even while assigning substantial weight to the plaintiffs’ choice of forum, the overall balance tilted decidedly on the side of Guatemala.

C. Public Interest Factors

Next, the appellants claim that the district court erred in its balancing of the public interest factors by failing to assign sufficient weight to the United States’ interest in adjudicating claims under the ATA and the TVPA. As we have indicated, however, it is only when the private interest factors are “at or near equipoise” that a district court is obliged to consider the public interests at stake in a suit. Del Campo Bacardi 845 So.2d at 36 n. 1; see also Membreno, 425 F.3d at 937. Thus, since the district court here did not err in concluding that the private interest factors overwhelmingly favored dismissal, it was not necessary, as the district court itself observed, to analyze the public interest factors.

Nevertheless, the district court did address the public interest factors, and for completeness, we note that, even if addressing the factors had been necessary (and on this record, we do not think so), the district court’s analysis of these factors did not amount to a clear abuse of discretion.

In examining the public interest factors, the district court first observed that it was not bound by the state court’s discussion of the public interest factors because that part of the opinion was not essential to the state court’s ultimate ruling. However, the district court approvingly cited the state court’s discussion of the public interest factors. In particular, like the state court, the district court found that the dispute was “quintessentially Guatemalan,” since it involved “one of Guatemala’s largest private employers in one of Guatemala’s most important economic sectors” and “one of Guatemala’s most influential labor unions.” Aldana, 2007 WL 3054986, at *5. In addition, the court observed that the appellants’ “choice of a Florida forum imposes an inappropriately heavy burden on this Court and this community,” while “Guatemala, on the other hand, has a paramount interest in this dispute and its courts are more appropriate for adjudicating Plaintiffs’ claims.” Id.

Furthermore, the district court concluded that while “there is a strong public interest in favoring the receptivity of United States courts to [torture] claims under 28 U.S.C § 1350, there is a greater policy interest in preventing forum shopping, as well as in protecting comity between the United States and other nations and other such interests.” Id. Thus, the district court held that, like the private interests, *1299the public interests also weighed heavily in favor of dismissal, and that, as a result, even if the private interest factors had not decisively favored Guatemala, dismissal of the suit on forum non conveniens grounds still would have been appropriate. Id.

Far from disregarding the importance of adjudicating claims under the ATA and TVPA, the district court explicitly acknowledged the “strong public interest in favoring the receptivity of United States courts to [such] claims.” Id. The district court concluded, however, that “there is a greater policy interest in preventing forum shopping, as well as in protecting comity between the United States and other nations and other such interests.” Id. The district court’s concern here is not unreasonable: it is not hard to imagine that Guatemala might regard trying this case in an American court as a tacit acceptance of the appellants’ assertion that the Guatemalan judicial system is too corrupt to justly resolve the dispute.

Indeed, the appellants essentially make just this argument. They fault the district court for ignoring evidence that “Guatemala has little interest in bringing Plaintiffs’ violators to justice or prosecuting trade union violence cases,” and they point out that “the U.S. State Department has for years reported the notorious level of violence against Guatemalan trade unionists, and the level of impunity which prevents the Courts from bringing the perpetrators of trade union violence to justice.” Appellants’ Br. at 40. But this suggestion is at war with the undisputed finding that Guatemalan courts constitute an adequate alternative forum. State Ct. Op. at 2; Aldana, 2007 WL 3054986, at *3. The district court could reasonably have decided to avoid the risk of conveying any such suggestion.

The district court identified key public interests such as maintaining comity with other nations, and the foreign sovereign’s undeniable interest in adjudicating this dispute, involving one of Guatemala’s largest private employers in a very important economic sector, and one of the sovereign’s most influential labor unions. Moreover, the district court weighed these various factors in a reasonable fashion and determined that Guatemala’s interest was stronger than the United States’. Under an abuse of discretion standard, “the district court had a range of choice and ... we cannot reverse just because we might have come to a different conclusion had it been our call to make.” Sloss Indus. Corp. v. Eurisol, 488 F.3d 922, 934 (11th Cir.2007) (quotation marks omitted).10 Since the underlying events took place in Guatemala, all of the individuals involved were (at least at the time) Guatemalan citizens, and Guatemalan political and economic tensions form the essential backdrop to the entire dispute, we are hard-pressed to say that the district court *1300abused its discretion in reaching this conclusion, even if it had been required to address the public interest factors at all.

In short, we discern no abuse of discretion in any aspect of the district court’s forum non conveniens analysis, and, accordingly, affirm.

AFFIRMED.