We Still Don’t Know What the State Department Thinks About the Transit Pipelines Treaty
In Bad River Band v. Enbridge Energy Co., the District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin (Judge William M. Conley) found that a pipeline owned by a Canadian company, Enbridge Energy, trespasses on the reservation of the Bad River Band of Chippewa Indians. He ordered the pipeline to shut down by June 16, 2026….
Continue ReadingThe Perils of Rule 44.1
Late last month, Judge Malachy E. Mannion of the Middle District of Pennsylvania ruled on a motion for summary judgment in Epsilon-NDT Endustriyel Kontrol Sistemleri Sanayi VE Ticaret, A.S. (“Epsilon”) v. Powerrail Distribution, Inc. (“PowerRail”). From one perspective, this case is an unremarkable business dispute arising out of an international contract. But from another perspective,…
Continue ReadingRethinking the Internal Affairs Rule
The internal affairs rule posits that a court should generally apply the law of the state in which an entity is incorporated to resolve questions relating to that entity’s internal affairs. These affairs encompass such matters as the election of directors, the rights of shareholders, and the fiduciary duties owed to shareholders. In a trio…
Continue ReadingHow Do Federal Courts Determine Foreign Law?
Sarah Alsaden has recently published her research on how federal district judges are determining the content of foreign law. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 44.1, a federal court’s determination of foreign law is a question of law (not of fact), and “[i]n determining foreign law, the court may consider any relevant material or source,…
Continue ReadingThe U.S. Takes the Fight Against Bribery to Foreign Officials
American companies, U.S. issuers, and persons in the United States have long been barred from bribing foreign officials under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). But until December 2023, no U.S. law directly penalized those foreign officials for soliciting or taking bribes. With the enactment of the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (FEPA), buried deep within…
Continue ReadingAnother Victory for Mexico in Guns Litigation
Still flush with success from its win at the First Circuit against U.S. gun manufacturers, Mexico has scored a new victory in federal court—this time, against U.S. gun dealers. In Estados Unidos Mexicanos v. Diamondback Shooting Sports, Inc., the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona (Judge Rosemary Márquez) ruled that Mexico could move…
Continue ReadingTransnational Litigation Events at the 2024 ASIL Annual Meeting
On April 3-6, the American Society of International Law will hold its 118th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. There are several events that may be of particular interest to TLB readers. The International Law in Domestic Courts Interest Group (which Maggie and Bill co-chair) will hold a panel on Comparative Perspectives on Extraterritoriality on Thursday,…
Continue ReadingTLB Turns Two!
Two years ago today, we launched the Transnational Litigation Blog in hopes of building a community of practitioners, academics, and students similarly interested in these fascinating and important issues. We are grateful to all of our readers, and we are especially grateful to the 91 authors (in addition to the five of us) who have…
Continue ReadingFederal Court Enjoins New Jersey Statute Sanctioning Russia
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, New Jersey enacted a statute (the “Russia Act”) prohibiting state agencies and political subdivisions from doing business with entities engaged in “prohibited activities” in Russia. In Kyocera Document Sols. Am., Inc. v. Div. of Admin., district court judge Robert H. Kirsch held that the statute is preempted…
Continue ReadingTransnational Corporate Accountability Through American Corporate Law
To those who view the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) as a beacon of American justice for foreign victims of corporate misconduct, the landscape looks bleak. In the latest ATS case decided in 2021, the Supreme Court held in Nestlé USA, Inc. v. Doe that plaintiffs, who were allegedly trafficked as children to engage in slave…
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