SDNY Stays Action Based on International Comity
Lower federal courts have developed several forms of abstention based on international comity. Some courts have adopted a doctrine of prescriptive comity abstention to dismiss federal statutory claims when facing a “true conflict” with foreign law. Some have embraced doctrines of adjudicative comity abstention that permit dismissals or stays of federal proceedings in favor of…
Continue ReadingAll I Want for Christmas (from the Federal Courts)
Rounding out this week’s posts by John Coyle and Bill Dodge, here’s my wish list for the lower federal courts (plus a bonus plea to the Supreme Court). Stop Violating Rule 4(f) and the Hague Service Convention Rule 4(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure authorizes service of process on defendants “at a place…
Continue ReadingComity and Kleptocrats
To succeed in their trade, thieves need a place to stash their ill-gotten gains. Should the United States become a safe haven for international financial wrongdoing, shielding the proceeds of misdeeds whenever the thief brings corrupt government officials into the plot? Zhakiyanov v. Ogai, a recent decision of the Supreme Court of New York, indicates…
Continue ReadingEighth Circuit Rejects Argument for Foreign-Policy Abstention
On August 1, 2024, the Eighth Circuit issued its decision in Reid v. Doe Run Resources Corp., rejecting defendants’ argument that the case should be dismissed based on international comity. As Maggie Gardner has explained in greater detail here and here, the plaintiffs in Reid are more than 1,400 Peruvian citizens who suffered harm as…
Continue ReadingNew Article on Old Admiralty Discretion
The Notre Dame Law Review has just published my new article, “Admiralty, Abstention and the Allure of Old Cases.” The heart of the article is a description of the federal courts’ long-standing discretion to decline jurisdiction over admiralty disputes between foreign parties. Defendants in transnational cases have recently tried to invoke this old admiralty practice…
Continue ReadingThird Circuit Clarifies Comity Abstention Test
The Third Circuit recently clarified the appropriate test for deferring to foreign bankruptcy proceedings. The court’s opinion in Vertiv, Inc. v. Wayne Burt PTE, Ltd. is clear, correct, and helpful in disambiguating the different contexts in which other federal courts have referred to “international comity abstention” and adjudicatory comity. The Facts In January 2020, Vertiv,…
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 ReadingOral Argument Recap: Reid v. Doe Run Resources Corp.
On Tuesday, the Eighth Circuit heard oral argument in Reid v. Doe Run Resources Corp., an ad hoc interlocutory appeal limited to the question of whether the district court should have abstained in that case based on foreign policy concerns. The facts of the case are described in a prior post. This post summarizes Tuesday’s…
Continue ReadingEighth Circuit Weighing Adoption of Foreign Relations Abstention
The Eighth Circuit will soon hear an interlocutory appeal to consider permitting abstention based on foreign relations concerns. In Reid v. Doe Run Resources Corp. (as the case is captioned on appeal), Peruvian citizens allege they were seriously harmed as children by toxic substances emitted by a metallurgical refining complex in Peru and that this…
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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