First Circuit Argument Weighs Constitutionality of TVPA
Last month, the First Circuit (Judge Lara Montecalvo, presiding, with retired Justice Stephen Breyer and Senior Judge Sandra Lynch) heard oral argument in Boniface v. Viliena. Viliena, a Haitian national who has been a legal permanent resident of the United States since 2008, is challenging a $15.5 million jury award under the Torture Victim Protection…
Continue ReadingBoston Jury Awards $15.5 Million in a Transnational Human Rights Case
Last month we reported on a sensible decision by Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the District of Massachusetts rejecting a defendant’s vague invocations of international comity as a basis for abstention. That decision cleared the way for trial on the plaintiffs’ claims that the defendant, Jean Morose Viliena, targeted them and their families for extrajudicial…
Continue ReadingRejecting Comity-Based Abstention in Human Rights Cases
Defendants in transnational human rights cases may seek dismissal on a great many bases—so many, in fact, that it can be hard to keep them all straight. One growing source of confusion is the argument that a case should be dismissed based on “comity.” The problem is that comity isn’t a single doctrine. But because…
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