Making a Mess of Service of Process
Last Friday, Magistrate Judge Paul Kohler (District of Utah) granted a motion for alternative service of process, allowing the plaintiff in Univera Brands, LLC v. Hawk Sports Industries, Germany, GmbH to serve the defendants through their U.S. lawyers and by email to an address in Germany. The decision is remarkable for the number of things…
Continue ReadingSuing Cuban Instrumentalities Under the Helms-Burton Act
Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), the agencies and instrumentalities of foreign states are generally immune from suit in U.S. courts unless one of the FSIA’s exceptions applies. But this past June, in Exxon Mobil Corp v. Corporación CIMEX, S.A. (Cuba), the Supreme Court held that the Helms-Burton Act abrogates the sovereign immunity of Cuban agencies and…
Continue ReadingSeventh Circuit Limits Email Service on Foreign Defendants
Last Friday, the Seventh Circuit held in Kangol LLC v. Hangzhou Chuanyue Silk Import & Export Co., Ltd. that defendants located in China cannot be served by email when the Hague Service Convention applies. (Disclaimer: Bill Dodge and I filed an amicus in Kangol with the help of friend-of-the-blog Ted Folkman urging this result.) The…
Continue ReadingSDNY Approves Email Service for Temporary Measures and Contempt
The Second Circuit’s recent decision in Smart Study Co., Ltd. v. Shenzhenshixindajixieyouxiangongsi made clear that defendants located in Hague Service Convention member states that have objected to service by postal channels typically cannot be served by email. Last month, Judge Rakoff of the Southern District of New York addressed an important limit to Smart Study’s…
Continue ReadingCan Parties Waive the Service Provisions of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act?
The answer is yes, sometimes. Failure to Raise the Defense To begin with the easiest situation, a defendant that fails to raise the defense of improper service of process, as required under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), will waive the defense as provided by FRCP 12(b)(5) and (h). The strict timing requirements apply…
Continue Reading“Waiving” the Hague Service Convention
Complying with the Hague Service Convention (HSC) is admittedly not always easy, quick, or even feasible. Not surprisingly, then, parties may want to work around the HSC through contractual language. John Coyle, Robin Effron, and I have previously explained how private parties can—and cannot—contract around the HSC. Unfortunately, the District of New Jersey (Judge Julian…
Continue ReadingSecond Circuit Holds Hague Service Convention Prohibits Email Service on Chinese Defendants
On December 18, 2025, just as TLB was going on holiday break, the Second Circuit issued its decision in Smart Study Co. v. Shenzhenshixindajixieyouxiangongsi, holding that the Hague Service Convention prohibits email service on Chinese defendants. As friend-of-TLB Ted Folkman wrote shortly thereafter, “This is the one we’ve been waiting for.” The question of email…
Continue ReadingA Helpful Decision on Serving Defendants in China
We have covered extensively on TLB the challenge of serving defendants located in China in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4 and U.S. treaty obligations under the Hague Service Convention. In a recent decision, the District of Massachusetts (Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV) provided a thoughtful analysis of these issues—citing along the way…
Continue ReadingPig-Butchering, Crypto, and Preliminary Injunctions
The US government just announced its largest forfeiture action ever, seeking $15B in Bitcoin from defendants in Cambodia who allegedly swindled victims in the United States and around the world. The indictment alleges a form of fraud known as “pig-butchering,” one of several kinds of crypto-related fraud beginning to generate significant transnational civil litigation in…
Continue ReadingScholarship Critical of “Schedule A” Cases
A growing chorus of scholarly concern about “Schedule A” cases appears to be catching the attention of some district courts. In a “Schedule A” case, a holder of U.S. intellectual property rights will sue a large collection of defendants, often online merchants based outside of the United States, which it will list in a “Schedule…
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