Choice of Law in Shareholder Derivative Litigation
U.S.-based investors hold trillions of dollars in equity of foreign companies. In the event of corporate wrongdoing, those investors may want to initiate shareholder derivative litigation in the United States against the managers of those corporations. This form of litigation is brought on behalf of the corporation itself rather than as a direct action. Derivative…
Continue ReadingChoice of Law in Shareholder Derivative Litigation
U.S.-based investors hold trillions of dollars in equity of foreign companies. In the event of corporate wrongdoing, those investors may want to initiate shareholder derivative litigation in the United States against the managers of those corporations. This form of litigation is brought on behalf of the corporation itself rather than as a direct action. Derivative…
Continue ReadingRecognizing Foreign Judgments
When cocktail party conversations turn to foreign judgments—as they often do—it is common to hear people speak of “recognizing and enforcing” such judgments. This is unsurprising because the typical case involves both recognition and enforcement of a foreign judgment. In some cases, however, a U.S. court may be called upon to recognize a judgment but…
Continue ReadingOral Arguments Over Trump’s Tariffs
On November 5, 2025, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump to determine whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) permits President Trump to impose sweeping emergency tariffs. Although it is not clear when the Court will rule, there is pressure to reach a decision soon because the longer…
Continue ReadingA Helpful Decision on Serving Defendants in China
We have covered extensively on TLB the challenge of serving defendants located in China in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4 and U.S. treaty obligations under the Hague Service Convention. In a recent decision, the District of Massachusetts (Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV) provided a thoughtful analysis of these issues—citing along the way…
Continue ReadingDoes China Have to Pay Qing Dynasty Bonds?
China’s last imperial dynasty, the Qing, fell in 1912. But some bondholders have not given up trying to collect on bonds issued as long ago as 1898. The latest attempt claims that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) violated priority clauses in these old bonds when it issued dollar-denominated bonds in 2020 and 2021, some…
Continue ReadingPig-Butchering, Crypto, and Preliminary Injunctions
The US government just announced its largest forfeiture action ever, seeking $15B in Bitcoin from defendants in Cambodia who allegedly swindled victims in the United States and around the world. The indictment alleges a form of fraud known as “pig-butchering,” one of several kinds of crypto-related fraud beginning to generate significant transnational civil litigation in…
Continue ReadingThe CISG Saves the Day
The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) has long been something of an enigma to American lawyers. The available evidence suggests that many U.S. lawyers are unaware of this treaty’s existence nearly forty years after it was ratified. In many cases, U.S. lawyers are upset to learn, first, that…
Continue ReadingTexas Court Gives Foreign Judgment Broad Res Judicata Effect
Gottwald v. Dominguez de Cano is a not a case that most readers would normally hear of. It is a Texas Court of Appeals decision giving res judicata effect to a Mexican judgment to bar a claim in state court to recover money paid in a Mexican land sale more than a decade ago. But…
Continue ReadingWhen Are Frozen Assets “Blocked” Assets?
The U.S. government’s efforts to quash the attachment of Iranian assets by victims of state-sponsored terrorism have been rejected by the D.C. Circuit. In Estate of Levin v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., the court of appeals reversed Judge Boasberg’s decision in favor of the government, and apparently created a split with the Fifth and Seventh…
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