Amco Ukrservice v. American Meter Co. Case Brief Summary | Law Case Explained

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Amco Ukrservice v. American Meter Co. | 312 F. Supp. 2d 681 (2004)
When conflicting laws from multiple jurisdictions could apply to a dispute, courts must choose which one to apply. Amco Ukrservice versus American Meter Company explains how Pennsylvania courts make that decision.
In nineteen ninety-seven and ninety-eight, American Meter Company, a supplier of gas-meter components, entered into two joint-venture agreements with Ukrainian gas-meter manufacturers. The parties executed the agreements in Ukraine but agreed that American would perform all its obligations from its Pennsylvania headquarters. Under these agreements, the parties formed two joint-venture companies, Prompriladamco and Amco Ukrservice, both incorporated in Ukraine. The agreements obligated American to ship parts from its Pennsylvania headquarters to Prompriladamco and Amco in Ukraine.
At the time of execution, Ukrainian law required any contract between a Ukrainian company and a foreign company to be signed by two representatives of the Ukrainian company. Despite this law, only one representative from the Ukrainian manufacturers signed the joint-venture agreements. Ukraine later repealed the two-signature law in nineteen ninety-nine. After the repeal, some, but not all, Ukrainian courts still applied the law to invalidate one-signature agreements that were executed when the law was still in force.
Soon after American and the Ukrainian manufacturers executed the agreements, American stopped shipping parts to Prompriladamco and Amco and withdrew from all business ventures in Ukraine, effectively terminating the joint-venture agreements. So, in two thousand, Prompriladamco and Amco sued American for contract breach in federal district court. The parties stipulated that the agreements were enforceable under Pennsylvania’s general contract laws. But American moved for summary judgment, arguing that the agreements were unenforceable under the repealed Ukrainian two-signature law.
The district court then took the motion under consideration to decide which jurisdiction’s law should apply.
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