Justia International Law Opinion Summaries

Argentina appealed the district court's dismissal of its motion to extend where Argentina had violated a Bilateral Investment Treaty when it implemented several emergency measures in response to the nation's financial crisis. An arbitration panel determined that Argentina was liable to National Grid PLC, ("National Grid") which had been operating in Argentina under the auspices of the treaty. At issue was whether National Grid forfeited its timeliness defense, whether the district court erred in treating Argentina's motion to extend as moot, and whether the district court erred in ultimately finding service to be untimely. Also at issue was whether the district court erred in granting a confirmation motion without first giving Argentina the opportunity to raise defenses available under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, 9 U.S.C. 201-208. The court rejected Argentina's argument that National Grid had forfeited its timeliness defense where it had expressly preserved this defense in the joint stipulation and then raised it in its first responsive pleading. The court also held that the district court had no authority to grant Argentina's motion to extend time to serve notice and therefore acted within its discretion in treating the motion as moot. Absent any evidence of timely service of notice, the court affirmed the dismissal of Argentina's motion to vacate the arbitral awards. The court further affirmed National Grid's cross-motion for recognition of the arbitral award where Argentina had ample time to raise defenses but made no attempt to raise such defects in the district court.View "Argentine Republic v. National Grid PLC." on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, the son and widow of an individual who was allegedly tortured and killed by the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization ("defendants"), sued defendants for violation of the Torture Victim Protection Act ("TVPA"), 28 U.S.C. 1350, and federal common law. At issue was whether the district court abused its discretion in vacating the entry of default and if not, whether plaintiffs had a cause of action under the TVPA or federal common law. The court affirmed the judgment of the district court and held that the TVPA did not permit a suit against defendants where the term "individual" comprised only natural persons and also held that plaintiffs did not have a cause of action under 28 U.S.C. 1331 for an alleged violation of federal common law. View "Asid Mohamad, et al v. Jibril Rajoub, et al" on Justia Law

FG Hemisphere Associates, LLC ("FG Hemisphere") brought a suit against the Democratic Republic of Congo ("DRC") under the provision of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act ("FSIA"), 28 U.S.C. 1604, permitting a plaintiff to confirm an arbitration award secured against a foreign sovereign. At issue was whether the district court could sanction DRC for failing to respond to a court-ordered discovery under the FSIA. The court held that the FSIA did not abrogate a court's inherit power to impose contempt sanctions on a foreign sovereign and therefore, the district court did not abuse its discretion when it sanctioned the DRC. View "FG Hemisphere Associates, LLC v. Democratic Republic of Congo, et al" on Justia Law

Plaintiff, a Cuban corporation, sued the United States Department of Treasury when plaintiff's renewal of its trademark, which had previously been permitted as an exception under the Trading with the Enemy Act ("Act"), was barred by the 1998 law that modified the Cuban Assets Control Regulations and subsequently barred renewals of certain trademarks. At issue was whether plaintiffs had invoked the presumption against retroactivity and the 1998 law should be interpreted to bar only new trademark registrations, not renewals of previously registered trademarks, and if the 1998 law did bar the renewal of previously registered trademarks, then would it violate the substantive due process doctrine. The court held that the presumption against retroactivity did not apply to plaintiff where plaintiff did not possess a vested right to renewal of its trademark. The court also held that the 1998 law did not violate the substantive due process doctrine where it was rationally related to the legitimate government goals of isolating Cuba's Communist government and hastening a transition to democracy in Cuba.