Actually, Courts Love the Third Restatement: A Response to Listwa
Every author knows the mixture of excitement and trepidation that follows publication as you wait for the reviews to roll in. For Reporters of Restatements, the sentiment is perhaps more acute: there is one audience that is particularly important, judges, and one question that matters: will they find the Restatement helpful? It is gratifying whenever…
Continue ReadingToshiba ADR Investors in a Catch-22
A recurring challenge in defining the geographic scope of U.S. securities law is how to characterize non-exchange-based transactions in American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). Under the Supreme Court’s Morrison test, such transactions have to qualify as “domestic” to trigger the application of U.S. law. If they don’t, the assumption is that investors would have to litigate…
Continue ReadingThe Marginal Utility of Choice-of-Law Clauses
I spend a lot of time researching and writing and thinking about choice-of-law clauses. So much so that I sometimes worry that I’ve fallen victim to a cognitive bias known as the law of the instrument or (more colorfully) Maslow’s Hammer. This bias arises when a person acquires a specific skill and thereafter looks for…
Continue ReadingA Warning Sign? The Washington Supreme Court Declines to Adopt the Draft Restatement (Third)
The Washington Supreme Court recently issued its decision in Erickson v. Pharmacia LLC, one of a number of related lawsuits filed by teachers and their family members seeking damages for chemical exposure at Washington schools—cases collectively seeking over a billion dollars in damages. While the case is significant in its own right, it is of particular…
Continue ReadingConsultation on the Hague Conference Project on Parallel Proceedings and Related Actions
International lawyers and their associations have the opportunity to contribute to work at the Hague Conference on Private International Law designed to address problems that arise when the same or similar case has been filed in courts in multiple states. The Hague Conference has developed a Consultation Paper and a dedicated webpage providing information about…
Continue ReadingArizona Supreme Court Rejects the “Closely Related” Doctrine
When may a litigant take advantage of a forum selection clause in a contract that he never signed? This is a question that has attracted considerable attention from the courts (and on this blog). Historically, a non-party was covered by a clause only when permitted under such doctrines as assumption, agency, piercing the corporate veil,…
Continue ReadingU.S. Courts “International Law” Year in Review Panel Discussion, December 9
The Dispute Resolution and International Law in Domestic Courts Interest Groups of the American Society of International Law, along with the Transnational Litigation Blog, cordially invite you to a hybrid panel discussion on recent key decisions in U.S. courts and legally driven developments in executive branch practice that have significant implications for U.S. foreign relations…
Continue ReadingHappy Thanksgiving
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in the United States, so TLB is taking a break. We are thankful for you, our readers, around the world. If you celebrate the holiday, we wish you happiness with your family and friends. If you do not celebrate the holiday, we wish you the same. We will be back with…
Continue ReadingNew Developments in U.S. Covid Litigation Against China
Just last month, I wrote about suits filed in U.S. courts against the People’s Republic of China and other Chinese entities for damages arising from the Covid pandemic. In the last two weeks there have been two significant developments. First, on November 14, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi (Judge…
Continue ReadingBook Launch for Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements
The 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements entered into force ten years ago. As regular readers will know, the United States has signed but not (yet) ratified the Convention. Were the United States to do so, it would mark a significant (and positive) change in the U.S. approach to the interpretation and enforcement…
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