Federal Court Issues Worldwide Anti-Enforcement Injunction
Last month, Judge Edward Davila (Northern District of California) granted a motion by Google for a rare type of equitable relief: a worldwide anti-enforcement injunction. In Google v. Nao Tsargrad Media, a Russian media company obtained a judgment against Google in Russia and then began proceedings to enforce it in nine different countries. Arguing that…
Continue ReadingNew Essay on Anti-Enforcement Injunctions
In a symposium issue honoring Linda Silberman, the NYU Journal of International Law and Politics has just published an essay that Ralf Michaels and I wrote on anti-enforcement injunctions. In the United States, the best-known example of this type of order is the one entered by the Southern District of New York in the infamous…
Continue ReadingJPMorgan Caught Up in U.S. Sanctions Against Russia
A recent dispute in U.S. federal court shows that efforts to isolate Russia through sanctions are seeping into the courts of both countries. As the economic and legal regimes of Russia and the United States drift further apart, both Russian and U.S. courts have become increasingly bold in flouting the orders of the other. This…
Continue ReadingA Primer on Transnational Parallel Proceedings
It is not uncommon for parties involved in cross-border disputes to file competing or overlapping lawsuits in different forums. When should a U.S. court stay its hand in favor of a lawsuit filed in another country? Conversely, when should a U.S. court take proactive measures to defend its jurisdiction from interference by proceedings in a…
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 ReadingDivided Fifth Circuit Panel Affirms Antisuit Injunction in Tragic Case
Normally, the fact that the Fifth Circuit affirmed an antisuit injunction would not be noteworthy. The Fifth Circuit is among the circuits that has adopted a liberal approach to antisuit injunctions, and all circuits review a district court’s decision to grant or deny such an injunction for abuse of discretion. But the decision in Ganpat…
Continue ReadingThe Use and Abuse of Section 1782 Litigation in England
This post considers the use and misuse in England of the U.S. district court’s power under 28 U.S.C. § 1782 to order a person to give evidence or produce documents for use in a proceeding in a foreign tribunal. It is based upon a paper written for a conference honouring Professor Linda Silberman, a close…
Continue ReadingNew Scholarship on Anti-Suit Injunctions
Raghavendra R. Murthy, outgoing Editor-in-Chief of the Vanderbilt Law Review, has published a note on antisuit injunctions and patent litigation: Why Can’t We Be FRANDs?: Anti-Suit Injunctions, International Comity, and International Commercial Arbitration in Standard-Essential Patent Litigation. The note explores the rise of anti-suit injunctions related to the licensing of “standard-essential patents.” Owners of such…
Continue ReadingA Primer on State Law in Transnational Litigation
The procedural and substantive rules that U.S. courts apply in transnational litigation come from many sources, including the U.S. Constitution, international treaties, customary international law, federal statutes, federal rules, and federal common law (both preemptive and non-preemptive)—but also, state statutes, state rules, and state common law. This primer focuses on the underappreciated role of state…
Continue ReadingThrowback Thursday: Joseph Story and the Comity of Nations
One of the most influential books on transnational litigation was written nearly two centuries ago by a sitting Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Joseph Story’s Commentaries on the Conflict of Laws, first published in 1834, synthesized foreign and domestic cases regarding conflict of laws and the enforcement of foreign judgments. Story endorsed international comity…
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