International Civil Litigation Course Webpage

Michael D. Ramsey

Professor of Law, University of San Diego Law School

International Civil Litigation, Fall 2012 Course Webpage

COURSE OVERVIEW

Class Meetings: Monday & Wednesday, 10:30 am - 11:45 am

Office Hours: 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm, Monday and Wednesday

1:30 pm to 4:30 pm, Tuesday

Textbook: Gary Born & Peter Rutledge, International Civil Litigation in U.S. Courts (5th edition, Aspen, 2011).

Note: All assignments and course discussion will be made with reference to the fifth edition of this text. The fourth edition is not a suitable substitute.

Additional assignments may be made from materials available on-line.

INFORMATION REGARDING COURSE SCHEDULE

This space will be used for announcements regarding class cancellations, make-ups, optional events of interest, and other updates regarding the course schedule.

Office hours for 11/20 are cancelled. The last course meetings will be Monday 11/26 and Wednesday 11/28. Monday’s assignment is posted below; it completes the Unit 4 reading list. Wednesday will be principally a review session.

CURRENT ASSIGNMENTS

This space will be used to post assignments for each class meeting; these assignments will also be announced in class. Assignments are keyed to the course Reading Lists. The Reading List for Units 1, 2, 3 and 4 are posted below.

Assignment for Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Review hypothetical (download below).

Assignment for Monday, November 26, 2012

Unit 4 Reading List, Part II.C. Also, consider the following: in the McKenna/TIMCO hypothetical, assuming that China and the Cayman Islands have similar approaches to enforcement of judgments as does the US, what is the likelihood of enforcing a California judgment against TIMCO?

NO CLASS Wednesday, November 21 (Thanksgiving holiday)

Assignment for Monday, November 19, 2012

Unit 4 Reading List, Part II.B

Assignment for Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Unit 4 Reading List, Part II.A, plus Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws, Sections 92 and 98 (available on Westlaw or Lexis). Also, look over the Uniform Foreign Money Judgments Recognition Act (UFMJ or UMFJRA), with attention to the sections that allow or require a court to reject recognition, and the American Bar Association statement on the Uniform Foreign Country Money Judgments Recognition Act (UFCMJRA), the 2005 revision to the UFMJ.

Assignment for Monday, November 12, 2012

Unit 4 Reading List, Part I E & F.

Assignment for Wednesday, November 7, 2012

New Reading List (Unit 4 — Discovery and Enforcement in Transnational Cases), Part I A-D. Focus on the Dubai, Reinsurance and Air Cargo cases.

Assignment for Monday, November 5, 2012

Reading List Part IV D. Also, review the reading on exceptions to the act of state doctrine on pp. 842-57.

Assignment for Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Reading List Part IV A, B and C, focus on the Sabbatino, Dunhill and Kirkpatrick cases.

Assignment for Monday, October 29, 2012

No new reading for 10/29. We will cover Reading List Part III.B, starting with Milliken v. Pratt and related cases. Also, consider how the choice of law question would likely be resolved in our TIMCO hypothetical, assuming suit is filed in California and all procedural barriers are overcome. Address this question both (a) assuming a choice of law clause in the employment contract choosing Chinese law, and (b) assuming no choice of law clause.

Note: The assignment for 10/31 is Reading List Part IV A, B, & C. This is a long and difficult assignment. I strongly recommend that you read some of it before Monday, or you will find it very challenging to complete by Wednesday.

Assignment for Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Unit 3 Reading List, Part III.B. Also, re-read Allstate Ins. Co. v. Hague, pp. 620-26, and consider how the Minnesota Supreme Court concluded that Minnesota law applied. What type of choice-of-law analysis was it using?

Assignment for Monday, October 22, 2012

Unit 3 Reading List, Part III.A. We will begin with a short discussion of the Garamendi case.

Assignment for Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Unit 3 Reading List, Part II (focus on Hague and Garamendi), plus we will cover the Davis case from the prior reading.

Assignment for Monday, October 15, 2012

Unit 3 Reading List, Part I.C, D & E.

Also, regarding the Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum case, look up the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. 1350, and take a look at the petitioners’ and respondents’ briefs in the Supreme Court litigation.

The petitioners’ brief is available here (Part II addresses the extraterritoriality issue).

The respondents’ brief is available here (Part I addresses the extraterritoriality issue).

I suggest looking at the respondents’ arguments first.

Assignment for Wednesday, October 10, 2012

New Reading List (Unit 3: Applicable Law in Transnational Cases) [download below], Part I.A & B.

Assignment for Monday, October 8, 2012

Reading List Part III.B. Also, consider whether, under the facts of ICL hypothetical version #4, the defendants would gain any advantage by filing suit in China.

Note: we will begin by discussing the Continental Time case from the previous assignment.

Assignment for Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Reading List Part III.A. We will begin by discussing ICL hypothetical version #4 from the previous assignment

Assignment for Monday, October 1, 2012

Reading List Part II, plus ICL Hypothetical Version #4 (download below)

Assignment for Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Unit 2 Reading List, part I.D, E, & F. Focus on application of forum non conveniens doctrine to the current version of the ICL hypothetical. Assume all issues of personal jurisdiction, immunity, and service have been resolved in favor of plaintiffs by a U.S. court.

Assignment for Monday, September 24, 2012

Unit 2 Reading List, part I.A, B, & C, focus on the Piper, Dow, and Iragorri cases. Note: this is from a new reading list, available for download below.

Assignment for Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Reading List Part III C, D, & E, focus on the Hague Service Convention. This is the last assignment from the Unit 1 Reading List. A new reading list will be posted shortly.

Assignment for Monday, September 17, 2012

Reading List Part III A & B (focus on the Nahas and Rio cases). Consider how, as a practical matter, to serve process on the TIMCO defendants.

Assignment for Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Reading List Part II.E & F (Note: we will start with Saudi Arabia v. Nelson from the prior assignment)

Assignment for Monday, September 10, 2012

Reading List Part II.D. Note: for purposes of discussion, assume that the hypothetical TIMCO entities are “instrumentalities of foreign states” for purposes of the FSIA, and consider the Section 1605 exceptions to immunity.

Assignment for Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Reading List Part II A, B, & C (note that this assignment includes Sections 1603-05 of the FSIA, which are available on-line).

ICL Hypothetical Version #3 (download below)

NO CLASS Monday, September 3 (Labor Day)

NO CLASS Wednesday, August 29 (class cancelled)

Assignment for Monday, August 27, 2012

Reading List Part I.D, E & F

ICL Hypothetical Version #2 (download below)

Assignment for Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Reading List Part I.C. We will apply this reading, plus the prior reading from Reading List Part I.A & B, to the specifics of the TIMCO hypothetical.

Assignment for Monday, August 20, 2012:

Download below.