A Troubling Decision in the Fifth Circuit
The Fifth Circuit has issued a number of opinions over the years relating to the enforceability of forum selection clauses in transnational cases. Its recent decision in Matthews v. Tidewater, Inc. is among the most troubling. Background The plaintiff, Marek Matthews, worked as a seaman and captain from 1982 to 2016 on offshore supply vessels…
Continue ReadingThird Circuit Addresses Email Service under the Hague Service Convention
A new decision by the Third Circuit, SEC v. Lahr, correctly analyzes the tricky question of email service under the Hague Service Convention. The court’s clear explanation will be of great help to district courts across the country, which remain divided on this question. Unfortunately, the Third Circuit chose not to publish its decision, so…
Continue ReadingEighth Circuit Rejects Argument for Foreign-Policy Abstention
On August 1, 2024, the Eighth Circuit issued its decision in Reid v. Doe Run Resources Corp., rejecting defendants’ argument that the case should be dismissed based on international comity. As Maggie Gardner has explained in greater detail here and here, the plaintiffs in Reid are more than 1,400 Peruvian citizens who suffered harm as…
Continue ReadingRecent Developments Concerning the Hague Judgments Convention and COCA
Although the United States signed Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements (COCA) in 2009, it has yet to ratify it. In this post, I report on some recent developments that offer a basis for (cautious) optimism that the United States may soon take the necessary steps to ratify both COCA and the Hague Judgments…
Continue ReadingMore Thoughts on the Seventh Circuit’s Motorola Decision
Like Tim Holbrook, we found the Seventh Circuit’s decision in Motorola Solutions, Inc. v. Hytera Communications Corp. Ltd. provocative. Motorola expands the reach of the Defend Trade Secrecy Act (DTSA) in ways that strike us as inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s concerns about extraterritorial application of U.S. law, particularly in the context of intellectual property…
Continue ReadingSeventh Circuit Explores Copyright and Trade Secret Extraterritoriality
In Motorola Solutions, Inc. v. Hytera Communications Corp. Ltd., the Seventh Circuit  recently addressed the extraterritorial reach of two federal intellectual property statutes, the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) and the Copyright Act. The court held that the DTSA does apply extraterritorially and allowed recovery on that basis. The court, however, rejected the recovery of…
Continue ReadingFourth Circuit Rejects Forum Non Conveniens Defense to Enforcing Arbitral Award
The New York Convention governs the recognition and enforcement of most foreign arbitral awards in the United States. Article V of the Convention sets forth limited grounds on which enforcement may be refused. But Article III makes the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards subject to “the rules of procedure of the territory where the award…
Continue ReadingFuld and Waldman Plaintiffs Seek Supreme Court Review
TLB has followed the Second Circuit’s decisions holding unconstitutional the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act of 2019 (PSJVTA) and denying an en banc rehearing in Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization and Waldman v. Palestine Liberation Organization over a strong dissent by Judge Steven Menashi. As predicted, the plaintiffs recently filed a…
Continue ReadingApplying China’s Personal Information Protection Law to U.S. Discovery Requests
On August 20, 2021, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated China’s Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), which became effective from November 1, 2021. Chapter 1 of the PIPL contains general rules, Chapter 2 outlines rules for handling personal information, and Chapter 3 addresses cross-border transfer of personal information. Chapters 4, 5, and…
Continue ReadingLiability Waivers and Statutory Interpretation
In 1936, Congress passed a law to prevent companies in the business of transporting people across the ocean from writing liability waivers into their contracts. That law, currently codified at 46 U.S.C. 30527(a), reads as follows: The owner, master, manager, or agent of a vessel transporting passengers between ports in the United States, or between…
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