Galactic Holdings LLC v. ST Engineering Aerospace LTD

JURISDICTION AND VENUE

5. This Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332 (a)(2) as it is a civil action between Galactic, a citizen of the United States (namely, a citizen of Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida), and ST Engineering, a citizen or subject of a foreign state (namely Singapore). The amount in controversy exceeds the sum of $75,000.00, exclusive of interest and costs. The Court also has subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 as this civil action raises claims under the laws of the United States.

6. One of the members of Galactic is a resident of Monroe County, Arkansas. The case is thus properly filed in the Delta Division of this Court.

7. Venue is proper in this Court under 28 U.S.C. § 1391 (b)(2) both because (i) this is the district in which a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to Galactic’s claim occurred, and (ii) Galactic and ST Engineering agreed that “[a]ny dispute arising out of or in connection with [their] Agreement, including any issue regarding its existence, validity or termination, shall be referred to and finally by suit filed and litigated in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. . . .” This agreement is memorialized in a contract titled Galactic and ST Engineering’s Design, Development and Aircraft Modification Service Agreement for a Conversion of Passenger B757-200 to a Fire Fighting Platform (the “Initial Agreement”).¹

¹ This contract was signed by both parties. Both parties have a copy and know its contents. Out of a concern for confidentiality of contract provisions unrelated to this suit, a copy is not attached here, but Galactic will provide a copy to the Court if requested. It will also be disclosed in discovery.

BACKGROUND

8. Worldwide, over the last decade, wildfires have become both (i) increasingly common and (ii) perhaps worse, increasingly disastrous.²

9. In 2019 - 2020 , for example, Australia’s Black Summer wildfire season saw almost 50 million acres of land burned.³

10. Closer to home, around the same time, California fought the Camp Fire—the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history⁴—the August Complex Fire, one of California’s largest,⁵ and the Dixie Fire, costing more than half-a-billion dollars to suppress.⁶

11. To successfully fight these massive wildfires, governments across the globe employ a variety of tactics, one of the most important of which is known as “aerial firefighting,” or, more informally in industry parlance: “waterbombing.”

12. Waterbombing has been around for decades, but the industry has long suffered from a classic Goldilocks problem: traditional firefighting airplanes are either (i) too small, and do not

² See, e.g., Wildfire Climate Connection, NAT’L OCEANIC & ATMOSPHERE ADMIN., https://www.noaa.gov/noaa-wildfire/wildfire-climate-connection (last visited March 25, 2025 ).

³Black Summer, AUSTRALIAN PUB. SERV. COMM’N, https://www.apsc.gov.au/state-service/state-service-report- 2019 -20/chapter-1-commitment-service/black-summer (last visited March 25, 2025 ).

⁴Camp Fire Air Quality Data Analysis, CAL. AIR RES. BD., https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/documents/camp-fire-air-quality-data-analysis?keywords= 2025 (last visited March 25, 2025 ).

⁵August Complex Restoration, U.S. FOREST SERV., https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/mendocino/home/?cid=FSEPRD (last visited March 25, 2025 ).

⁶ Francisco Tutella, California’s Dixie Fire Shows Impact of Legacy Effects, Prescribed Burns, Penn. State ( June 27, 2022 ), https://www.psu.edu/news/earth-and-mineral-sciences/story/californias-dixie-fire-shows-impact-legacy-effects-prescribed.