Due Process and in rem Jurisdiction
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held in United States v. Nasri that Fifth Amendment due process is violated if a federal court exercises in rem jurisdiction but lacks custody or constructive control over the property. The district court, Judge Hayes (S.D. Cal.), had held to the contrary, and Judge Bennett dissented from the panel…
Continue ReadingDoes the FSIA Permit Trials in Absentia?
During the course of a lengthy litigation, Venezuela stopped defending a lawsuit, due to a change in government. The court set pretrial deadlines, which Venezuela did not meet. The district court did not enter a default, however, because the plaintiff wanted instead to prove his case. The court accordingly held a bench trial (without Venezuela’s…
Continue ReadingThe New HEAR Act: Just in Time for the Cases That Inspired It?
When President Trump signed the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2025 on April 13, 2026, most commentary – including my own – generally discussed the Act as a forward-looking change that would help future claimants. Although I mentioned that the Act would apply to “current” plaintiffs, I did not explain which cases that might…
Continue ReadingRecognizing Governments, Recognition of Arbitral Awards
A company based in Barbados won an arbitral award against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (“Venezuela”) and petitioned to have it recognized and enforced in federal court in the United States. Venezuela objected on the ground that the arbitral panel allowed the Maduro regime to replace the lawyers that represented Venezuela – even though Maduro…
Continue ReadingThe FSIA and Agreements to Aribtrate
The enforcement of foreign arbitral awards has led to contested questions about personal jurisdiction, about the scope ofthe arbitration exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), and about the relationship between that exception and the New York Convention. A new case from the D.C. Circuit, Global Voice v. Republic of Guinea considers the scope…
Continue ReadingJurisdictional Puzzles about the Enforcement of Judgments & Arbitral Awards
Two recent cases highlight unsettled questions about jurisdictional limitations on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgements and arbitral awards. The first, Alterna Aircraft V B Ltd. v. SpiceJet Ltd., addressed whether due process requires the presence of property in the forum state if the court otherwise lacks personal jurisdiction over the debtor. In Alterna,…
Continue ReadingNational Security Concerns as a “Burden” in Discovery Disputes
How should U.S. national security concerns be weighed in discovery disputes in cases that do not directly involve the U.S. government? That question is under consideration in Pao Taftneft v. Ukraine, a case currently before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, in which Russian investors seek to enforce a foreign arbitral award…
Continue ReadingHavlish v. Taliban: Second Circuit Denies Rehearing En Banc
As of Spring 2026, Afghan central bank assets blocked by the U.S. government remain unavailable to satisfy terrorism-related judgments. In March, a divided Second Circuit denied rehearing en banc to victims of terrorist attacks who hold judgments against the Taliban and who seek to enforce those judgments against $3.5 billion in “blocked” assets held in…
Continue ReadingSupreme Court Coverage
The Court will hear oral argument today in Cisco Systems v. Doe I et al. to decide whether a U.S. corporation can be held liable under the Alien Tort Statue or the Torture Victim Protection Act for aiding and abetting violations of international human rights law. The argument, which is the only one scheduled today, starts…
Continue ReadingGlobal Developments in Class Action Litigation
A newly revamped French website aims to report on global developments in judicial mechanisms for collective redress. As it turns out, class actions and related collective actions are becoming increasingly common in many European countries, but they are also the subject of significant debate, as highlighted by the “News” page on the site, which also describes…
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