Finding the Right International Comity Doctrine
In Salisbury v. Costco Wholesale Corp., plaintiffs brought a class action in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington alleging that Costco sold, as “100% agave,” tequilas that contain cheaper, non-agave alcohol. Plaintiffs based their allegations on a testing methodology known as SNIF-NMR, which identifies the plant origin of ethanol by measuring…
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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