Transnational Litigation

Transnational litigation is litigation involving persons, events, or transactions with a connection to more than one country. In the United States, transnational litigation may occur in state or federal court.  The term encompasses ordinary commercial disputes between parties in different nations, multi-jurisdictional patent wars, and claims based on international human rights law. Transnational litigation cases raise a host of unique issues relating to procedural rules, private contracts, federal statutes, state law, and international treaties.

Recent Posts

Successor Jurisdiction and Anti-Terrorism Litigation

Transnational litigation often presents tricky questions of personal jurisdiction. Ongoing litigation in New York arising out of rocket attacks by Hizbollah does so in spades. This post reviews the recent New York Court of Appeals decision in Lelchook v. Société Générale de Banque au Liban SAL, answering a certified question posed by the Second Circuit…

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We Still Don’t Know What the State Department Thinks About the Transit Pipelines Treaty

In Bad River Band v. Enbridge Energy Co., the District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin (Judge William M. Conley) found that a pipeline owned by a Canadian company, Enbridge Energy, trespasses on the reservation of the Bad River Band of Chippewa Indians. He ordered the pipeline to shut down by June 16, 2026….

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Transnational Litigation Events at the 2024 ASIL Annual Meeting

On April 3-6, the American Society of International Law will hold its 118th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.  There are several events that may be of particular interest to TLB readers. The International Law in Domestic Courts Interest Group (which Maggie and Bill co-chair) will hold a panel on Comparative Perspectives on Extraterritoriality on Thursday,…

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