Ingrid (Wuerth) Brunk

Execution 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 Reading

D.C. Circuit Addresses FSIA in German Art Case

In the years before World War II, the Nazi government in Germany allegedly stole an art collection belonging to a Jewish industrialist. His descendants who live in the United States sued Germany in Toren v. Federal Republic of Germany.  They argue that Germany is not immune from suit under an exception to the Foreign Sovereign…

Continue Reading

Case Brought by Jamal Khashoggi’s Widow Dismissed

Hanan Elatr Khashoggi sued Israeli spyware companies in connection with the death of her husband, journalist Jamal Khashoggi.  A critic of the Saudi government, Khashoggi was killed in Istanbul, Turkey at the Saudi Arabian consulate.  Last year, Judge John Bates (D.D.C.) dismissed a civil suit against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on grounds of…

Continue Reading

Audio Content on TLB!

We are beginning to offer audio versions of some posts! We kick off the initiative with John Coyle’s recording of his post A Primer on Choice-of-Law Clauses. Choice of law and choice of law clauses are important issues in any legal system, ones that help students understand both contracts and civil procedure. Now students, foreign…

Continue Reading

Proposed Legislation to Amend the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act

Representatives Adam Schiff, Betty McCollum, and Gerry Connolly have introduced the  Jamal Khashoggi Protection of Activists and Press Freedom Act of 2023.  The purpose of the legislation is to protect free speech advocates and journalists. The press release announcing the draft legislation notes the murder five years ago of journalist Jamal Khashoggi “at the hands…

Continue Reading

Throwback Thursday: Eighty Years of Ex Parte Republic of Peru

Back in 1943, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in an admiralty case against the Ucayali, a Peruvian steamship. A Cuban company brought the in rem action in a federal district court in Louisiana alleging that the steamship violated a charter agreement by failing to carry a cargo of sugar from Peru to New York….

Continue Reading

Constitutional Issues in the Sudan Claims Resolution Act

District courts and the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia have recently issued opinions addressing constitutional issues in litigation against Sudan. The United States and the Republic of Sudan signed an agreement (the Claims and Dispute Resolution Agreement) designed to improve diplomatic relations between the two countries, to promote democracy in Sudan, and…

Continue Reading

Jia on the U.S.- China Rivalry

Mark Jia has posted an interesting new article on SSRN, American Law in the New Global Conflict.  It considers how China has shaped U.S. law historically and how the current rivalry between the U.S. and China will play out for domestic law.  The history is fascinating. It discusses not only the racist and xenophobic Chinese…

Continue Reading

Using TLB to Teach Foreign Relations Law

This post discusses Foreign Relations Law as part of our series explaining how professors can use resources on TLB to teach various classes. Previous posts have discussed Transnational Litigation, Civil Procedure, International Business Transactions, and Conflict of Laws. Although TLB focuses on litigation, and Foreign Relations Law classes cover many topics that are rarely litigated, there is significant…

Continue Reading

Supreme Court decides Yegiazaryan v. Smagin

The Supreme Court just released its opinion in Yegiazaryan v. Smagin.   For prior coverage on TLB by Bill Dodge see here, here, here, and here. The issue in the case was whether the plaintiff adequately plead a domestic injury under RICO.  The foreign plaintiff alleged that the defendants worked together illegally to frustrate his collection…

Continue Reading

Ingrid (Wuerth) Brunk

Vanderbilt Law School
ingrid.wuerth@vanderbilt.eduEmail

William Dodge

UC Davis School of Law
wsdodge@ucdavis.eduEmail

Maggie Gardner

Cornell Law School
mgardner@cornell.eduEmail

John F. Coyle

University of North Carolina School of Law
jfcoyle@email.unc.eduEmail

Zachary D. Clopton

Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
zclopton@law.northwestern.eduEmail

Melissa Kucinski

MKFL
Bio | Posts

Cara Maines

NYU School of Law
Bio | Posts

Andrew J. Coyner

Vanderbilt Law School
Bio | Posts

Marc Tiernan

University of Amsterdam
Bio | Posts

Poppy Alexander

Constantine Cannon
Bio | Posts

Kelly Adams

Herbert Smith Freehills LLP
Bio | Posts

Ben Köhler

Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law
Bio | Posts