U.S. Brief in Halkbank Abandons Customary International Law in Immunity Cases
In Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S. v. United States (Halkbank), the Supreme Court held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) does not apply to criminal proceedings. The Court remanded Halkbank’s separate claim of common law immunity to the Second Circuit for reconsideration. On November 20, 2023, after two extensions, the United States filed its brief on remand. The U.S….
Continue ReadingNew Article on Cross-Border Discovery
In the most recent issue of Judicature, Judge Michael Baylson and Professor Steven Gensler have a new article related to cross-border discovery—that is, discovery abroad in support of adjudication in U.S. courts. The whole article is worth readers’ time, though I will only briefly summarize it here. As TLB readers know well, cross-border discovery is…
Continue ReadingIncorporation by Reference and Choice of Law
The choice-of-law clause written into the contract of carriage for Delta Air Lines, Inc. (Delta) states that the agreement “shall be governed by and enforced in accordance with the laws of the United States of America and, to the extent not preempted by Federal law, the laws of the State of Georgia.” In a recent…
Continue ReadingChina’s New Foreign State Immunity Law: Some Foreign Relations Aspects
On September 1, 2023, the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC Standing Committee) passed the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Foreign State Immunity (FSIL) (English translation here). The FSIL will enter into force on January 1, 2024. This law heralds a fundamental shift of China’s attitude towards foreign state immunity,…
Continue ReadingDomestic Litigation and Compensation to Ukrainian Victims of Russian Aggression
Many proposals to compensate Ukrainian victims of Russian aggression do not directly involve domestic courts, in part because foreign sovereign immunity poses significant obstacles to such litigation. There are, however, important cases against Russia currently pending in Ukrainian courts. These cases were the subject of a recent session held in Lviv, Ukraine, as part of…
Continue ReadingCert Sought to Resolve Circuit Split on Anti-Suit Injunction Standard
The Supreme Court will consider a petition for cert to resolve a circuit split over when to issue antisuit injunctions.
Continue ReadingExecution of Judgments Against the Assets of Foreign Sovereigns Located Abroad
The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) provides immunity from execution for the “property in the United States of a foreign state.” It does not confer immunity on a foreign state’s property located abroad. The limitation makes sense: to the extent that a foreign sovereign’s property located outside the United States is not subject to the…
Continue ReadingMDL-ing Transnational Litigation
What happens when the tax authority of the Kingdom of Denmark believes it was defrauded by more than 150 pension plans across the United States? A multidistrict litigation! This post briefly summarizes an unusual litigation in the Southern District of New York captioned In re SKAT Tax Refund Scheme Litigation. The post begins with a…
Continue ReadingSplitting the Difference on the Closely-Related-and-Foreseeable Test
Over the past decade, the lower federal courts have repeatedly considered whether non-signatories to a contract are bound by a forum selection clause if they are so “closely related” to a signatory that it is “foreseeable” that they would be bound. In some cases, their decisions are defensible, as discussed here. In others, their decisions…
Continue ReadingDistrict Court Stays Debt Litigation Against Sri Lanka at U.S. Request
Hamilton Reserve Bank Ltd. calls itself the “hometown bank of America’s founding father Alexander Hamilton.” In a recent case, however, the bank found itself at odds with the Treasury Department that Alexander Hamilton founded. In Hamilton Reserve Bank Ltd. v. Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, the United States filed a statement of interest supporting…
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