Two Conflicts Events in Oregon in May
Willamette University College of Law will be hosting two events, back to back, in May that may be of interest to TLB readers. Fifty Years in the Conflicts Vineyard On May 8-9, 2024, Willamette University College of Law and the Conflict of Laws Section of the Association of American Law Schools will hold a symposium…
Continue ReadingAfghan Central Bank Assets: Still Not Benefiting the People of Afghanistan
Following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and the return of the Taliban to power, the United States government froze approximately $7 billion of Afghan central bank (Da Afghanistan Bank, “DAB”) assets located in the United States. As covered on TLB, half of those assets remain frozen in the U.S. while the other half…
Continue ReadingThe Extraterritorial Reach of Criminal Statutes
When federal statutes do not indicate how far they reach, courts apply a presumption against extraterritoriality to limit their geographic scope. Last year, in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc. (2023), the Supreme Court revised the presumption by requiring conduct in the United States for a statute’s application to be considered domestic. Meanwhile, lower courts…
Continue ReadingA Primer on Transnational Parallel Proceedings
It is not uncommon for parties involved in cross-border disputes to file competing or overlapping lawsuits in different forums. When should a U.S. court stay its hand in favor of a lawsuit filed in another country? Conversely, when should a U.S. court take proactive measures to defend its jurisdiction from interference by proceedings in a…
Continue ReadingCall for Papers: International Law in Domestic Courts Workshop
The next International Law in Domestic Courts (ILDC) Workshop will be held at the University of Chicago on Friday, May 17. Professor Curt Bradley has graciously agreed to host the workshop this year. The ILDC is an interest group of the American Society of International Law. Its purpose is to promote dialogue among scholars and…
Continue ReadingRussia Continues Pressing Sovereignty Claims in the Yukos Award Saga
Yukos Oil Company (“Yukos”) shareholders’ attempts to enforce their $50 billion arbitral award against the Russian Federation are moving forward in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. On November 17, 2023, Judge Beryl Howell denied Russia’s motion to dismiss the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities…
Continue ReadingFirst Circuit Allows Some of Mexico’s Claims Against Gun Manufacturers to Move Forward
Mexico has strict gun laws. There is one gun store in the country, and Mexico issues fewer than fifty gun permits a year. Yet Mexico has the third most gun-related deaths in the world because it borders the United States. An estimated half million guns flow from the United States into Mexico each year. In…
Continue ReadingTexas, Insurance Contracts, and Foreign Forum Selection Clauses
A pair of recent Fifth Circuit cases — both involving damage to yachts — suggest that that court will enforce foreign forum selection clauses even when they appear in insurance contracts. This post first describes these cases. It then queries whether enforcing foreign forum selection clauses against Texas policyholders is, in fact, consistent with the…
Continue ReadingOral Arguments in Billion-Dollar Choice-of-Law Case
On January 10, 2024, the New York Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. v. MUFG Union Bank, N.A. The issue presented in this case, as previously discussed here and here and here, is whether a U.S. court should apply the law of New York or the law of Venezuela to…
Continue ReadingChoice-of-Law Clauses and Marital Property Law
In a recent law review article, I criticized a unanimous decision of the Washington Supreme Court that enforced the choice-of-law clause in a contract to which only one spouse was a party to determine which jurisdiction’s law governed an issue relating to marital property. In this blog post, I first provide a concise account of…
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