Recent Posts

Dear Readers: On my general website today, I report on a very significant Second Circuit decision concerning civil liability under the RICO (federal racketeering) statute. The case has already once been to the U.S. Supreme Court, and a petition for certiorari from this further decision can be expected.  My report is found under Legal Developments at www.lexmarc.us National holiday greetings to U.S. and Canadian readers. Marc

Class arbitration in the US may have some remaining vitality, under arbitration agreements made before the recent Concepcion decision and which do not include express class action waivers. A recent decision from a federal district judge in San Francisco indicates this, as the Court held that it was for the arbitrators to decide whether the language of the arbitration clauses at issue permits classwide arbitration. (Hayes v. Servicemaster Global Holdings, Inc., 2011 WL 2471001 (N.D. Cal. June 22, 2011). After sorting through the Supreme Court’s decisions in Bazzle, Stolt-Nielsen, and (by implication) Concepcion, this Court concluded that there were legitimate…
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Dear Readers: Foreign companies may be exposed to US discovery sought for use in litigation outside the United States. A recent federal court decision rejected an attempt to serve a subpoena for such discovery on a Chinese company at the Chicago offices of its wholly-owned subsidiary. A discussion can be found in the Legal Developments section of my general website. www.lexmarc.us Regards. Marc Goldstein

“International comity” is the term that first springs to mind when the subject under discussion is a foreign anti-suit injunctions (which, for purposes of this commentary, means an order from a US court enjoining a party before it from proceeding with foreign litigation).  Numerous US federal appellate cases admonish district courts to permit foreign anti-suit injunctions sparingly because they interfere, indirectly but tangibly, with the exercise of jurisdiction by the judiciary of a foreign sovereign state. What should become of that admonition, and what remains of respect for the sovereignty of a foreign state’s judiciary, when the foreign litigation involves…
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Dear Readers It is not usually the function of Arbitration Commentaries merely to report news of the day, but while a new post on anti-suit injunctions in aid of international arbitration is in preparation, I invite your attention to an article in today’s New York Times reporting that a disbarred former lawyer, having completed his prison term for paying kickbacks to secure clients, is seeking engagements as an arbitrator and mediator.   Read further at www.lexmarc.us under Legal Developments, where there is a link to the article itself, and if you wish, post your comments here.  Warm Regards. Marc Goldstein

Dear Readers: On the general website of my law practice, www.lexmarc.us, you will find an essay on recent developments in US litigation under the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”).  MJG