Arbitration

Transnational Litigation Anticipation: Previewing the Court’s Next Term

TLB recently recapped the Supreme Court’s transnational litigation cases from last Term. This post looks ahead to the upcoming Term, for which the Court has already granted certiorari in a personal jurisdiction case that may have implications for transnational litigation. TLB is also tracking several interesting petitions for certiorari in disputes involving the Foreign Sovereign…

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Contractual Waivers of Foreign Sovereign Immunity

The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) provides that foreign states are immune from suit in the United States unless an exception applies.  An important and long-standing exception to immunity is consent (the more common term in international practice) or waiver (the term used in the United States). The FSIA provides that a foreign state shall…

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Immediate Appeals in Foreign Sovereign Litigation

Foreign governments have many advantages in litigation.  Chief among them is sovereign immunity.  Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, foreign states and their agencies and instrumentalities are immune from suit in United States courts unless the case falls within one of the statute’s specific exceptions to immunity.  That substantive immunity also confers important procedural advantages. …

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Highlights from the Media Coverage of ZF Automotive

The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in ZF Automotive US, Inc. v. Luxshare, Ltd. has generated discussion, criticism, and approval in the transnational litigation and international arbitration communities. Writing for the Court, Justice Barrett relied on the meaning of the term “tribunal,” specifically when paired with “foreign” or “international,” to resolve a major circuit split and…

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ZF Automotive: Closing a Door, Opening a Window

The Supreme Court’s decision in ZF Automotive US, Inc. v. Luxshare, Ltd. drew a bright line for a statute that is otherwise regulated almost entirely by judicial discretion. In a terse and unanimous opinion, Justice Barrett wrote that Section 1782 does not permit district courts to order discovery for use in private international arbitration. The…

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Ninth Circuit Deepens Split over Extraterritoriality of Civil RICO

In a recent decision, Smagin v. Yegiazaryan, the Ninth Circuit weighed in on a circuit split involving the extraterritorial application of RICO’s private right of action. In determining whether there is injury to business or property in the United States, the court rejected the Seventh Circuit’s residency-based test, siding instead with the Second and Third…

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ZF Automotive: A Practitioner’s Perspective

As a practitioner in commercial litigation with an emphasis on China-related cross-border disputes, I have been eagerly anticipating the Supreme Court’s decision in ZF Automotive US Inc. v. Luxshare, Ltd., resolving a circuit split on the applicability of Section 1782 discovery to private international arbitration.   In this post, I share the practitioner’s perspective on what…

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The Dogs that Didn’t Bark in ZF Automotive

I confess I’m not big on blogs. They often do more mischief than good, and posts can distract folks from their day jobs (whether research or deaning). Then again, who can say no to a friendly request from good people like Maggie, Ingrid, Bill and John? Plus, several of us appeared in the case (George…

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ZF Automotive: Predictable Outcome, Lackluster Reasoning

Whatever one may think of it, the Court’s decision in ZF Automotive US, Inc. v. Luxshare, Ltd. is not a surprise. It reflects the forceful intervention of the U.S. Government and aligns well with the drift of the Court’s conduct of oral argument in the case. Even the constituency most apt to want to use…

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Supreme Court Holds in ZF Automotive That Section 1782 Does Not Apply to International Arbitration

The Supreme Court held today that Section 1782 does not apply to international arbitration—neither international commercial arbitration nor investor-state arbitration. Writing for a unanimous Court, Justice Barrett held that only governmental or intergovernmental adjudicative bodies fall within the scope of the provision. Section 1782 authorizes federal district courts to order persons residing or found within…

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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

Will Moon

University of Maryland
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William K. McGoughran

Vanderbilt Law School
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Chimène Keitner

UC Davis School of Law
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Catherine Amirfar

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
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Justin R. Rassi

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
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Isabelle Glimcher

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
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Ben Köhler

Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law
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Aaron D. Simowitz

Willamette University College of Law
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Timothy D. Lytton

Georgia State University College of Law
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Chukwuma Okoli

University of Birmingham
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Abubakri Yekini

University of Manchester
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