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Michael D. Ramsey Professor of Law, University of San Diego Law School |
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International Civil Litigation Spring 2024 Course Webpage |
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COURSE OVERVIEW
Class Meetings: Monday & Wednesday, 1:00 pm to 2:20 pm
Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday, 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm and 7:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Textbook: The required text is Childress, Ramsey & Whytock, Transnational Law and Practice (2d ed., Aspen, 2021) Note: earlier editions are not acceptable substitutes.
There is also a free online Supplement (covering 2021-2023) available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4178684. There may be some additional readings from sources available as downloads or on-line.
INFORMATION REGARDING THE COURSE
This space will be used for announcements regarding class cancellations, make-ups, optional events of interest, and other updates regarding the course and the course schedule.
There will be no make-up lecture for this course. We will have our regular class meeting on Monday, 4/22, and then meet again on Tuesday, 4/23 (which is deemed to be a Monday), at our regular time. That will be our last class meeting; there is no class on Wednesday, 4/24. A good resource for transnational litigators is the Transnational Litigation Blog, https://tlblog.org/ (run by a group of law professors but largely oriented toward practitioners). A recent post by UNC law professor John Coyle discusses some aspects of forum selection clauses that we have seen in class: https://tlblog.org/the-sixth-circuit-tackles-forum-selection-clauses/ A new reading list (Unit 5: Treaties and Customary International Law) is available below. This class is cancelled on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. The class will be made up, if necessary, with an asynchronous recorded lecture. The class will also not meet on Monday, April 1, 2024 (school holiday) A new reading list (Unit 4: Discovery and Enforcement in Transnational Cases) is available below. The Supreme Court’s opinion in Great Lakes Insurance v. Raider’s Retreat Realty Co., decided February 21, 2024 (discussed in class) is available here. Parts II.A and III are of most interest to our course. A new reading list (Unit 3: Applicable Law in Transnational Cases) is available below. (Note: a new slightly revised version is posted to correct a minor error.) A new reading list (Unit 2: Forum Selection in Transnational Cases) is available below. The syllabus, readings for the first unit of the course, and assignment for the first class meeting are available below. This class will be recorded. Recordings will be available to enrolled students via Panopto. I do not vouch for the quality or usefulness of these recordings and they are not a substitute for attending class. Only students in this course are authorized to view or listen to the recordings. The recordings are only for personal use in connection with this course. Do not show them to others, post them on the internet or otherwise distribute or provide access to them or any part of them. The recordings will be automatically deleted from Panopto after the final exam and you should not attempt to retain them or any part of them.
COURSE ASSIGNMENTS
This space will be used to post assignments for each class meeting; these assignments will also be announced in class. The Reading Lists for Unit 1 (Suing Transnational Defendants), Unit 2 (Forum Selection in Transnational Cases), Unit 3 (Applicable Law in Transnational Cases), Unit 4 (Discovery and Enforcement in Transnational Cases), and Unit 5 (Treaties and Customary International Law) are available below.
Assignment for Tuesday, April 23, 2024 (last class meeting)
Reading List Part II.C & D
Assignment for Monday, April 22, 2024
Reading List Part II.B, focus on Kiobel, and Jesner, plus Nestlé and Doe v. Cisco in the Supplement.
Assignment for Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Reading List Part II.A, focus on Filartiga and Sosa
Assignment for Monday, April 15, 2024
Reading List Part I.F & G
Assignment for Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Reading List Part I.C, D & E, focus on Medellin, McKesson and Fund for Animals
Assignment for Monday, April 8, 2024
New Reading List [available below], Part I.A & B
No class Monday, April 1, 2024 (school holiday) or Wednesday, April 3, 2024 (class cancelled)
Assignment for Wednesday, March 27, 2024
No new assignment. We will complete the discussion of recognition and enforcement, including enforcement of arbitration awards.
Assignment for Monday, March 25, 2024
Reading List Part II.E - H, focus on Southwest Livestock.
Consider: If we obtain a judgment against TIMCO in California, what is the likelihood of enforcement in a foreign jurisdiction such as China or Cayman?
Assignment for Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Reading List Part II.A, B, C & D focus on Midbrook and DeJoria.
Consider: if the TIMCO defendants obtain a judgment against our client in China, is it likely to affect the litigation in California?
Note: The Uniform Foreign Money Judgments Recognition Act (UFMJRA) (the 1962 Act) and the California version of the Uniform Foreign Country Money Judgments Recognition Act (UFCMJRA) (the 2005 Act) are available below. You’ll need to take a close look at them, focusing on procedural reasons for refusing to enforce a judgment.
Assignment for Monday, March 18, 2024
Reading List Part I.C, D & E, focus on cases in Part C. Consider the facts in ICL Hypothetical version #7 in which foreign law prohibits disclosure of the requested information.
Assignment for Wednesday, March 13, 2024
New Reading List (Unit 4 — Discovery and Enforcement in Transnational Cases) [available below], Part I.A & B, focus on Societe Nationale and Pronova. ICL Hypothetical version #7 [available below], consider situations in which foreign law does not prohibit disclosure of the requested information
Assignment for Monday, March 11, 2024
Reading List Part III, focus on Sabbatino Apply the act of state materials to ICL hypothetical version #6, part (3)
No class Monday, March 4 or Wednesday, March 6 (Spring Break)
Assignment for Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Reading List Part II.D & E
As to Part D, if there were a choice of law clause in the McKenna-TIMCO contract choosing Chinese law, would it likely be enforceable? Assignment for Monday, February 26, 2024
Reading List Part II.A, pp. 92-114 (Tucci, Ortega and Naghiu) Reading List Part II.B & C
As to Part B, if Chinese law is similar to E.U. law, can we determine what law will govern the claim in China? As to Part C, if we decide that we want Chinese law to govern the claim, how should we proceed? Assignment for Wednesday, February 21, 2024
New Reading List, Part I.D & E (skim, but with attention to Justice Scalia’s dissent in Hartford Fire and to the Empagran case). Reading List Part II.A, pages 78-92 only (Raskin and Edwards) ICL Hypothetical version #6, Part (2)
Assignment for Monday, February 19, 2024
New Reading List [available below], Part I.A, B & C, focus on Morrison and RJR Nabisco. ICL Hypothetical version #6, Part (1) [available below]
Assignment for Wednesday, February 14, 2024
No new assignment; focus on Adams v. Raintree and related notes
Assignment for Monday, February 12, 2024
Reading List Part III, focus on The Bremen, Petersen, and the cases in notes 2 and 4 on pp. 784-787
Also, skim pp. 557-566 (enforcing arbitration agreements)
ICL Hypothetical Version #5, Part (2)
Assignment for Wednesday, February 7, 2024
New Reading List, Part II For lis alibi pendens, focus on Finova and the cases in Note 3 on pp. 762-765 For anti-suit injunctions, focus on China Trade and the Ganpat case in the supplement
ICL Hypothetical Version #5 [available below], Part (1)
Assignment for Monday, February 5, 2024
New Reading List (Unit 2: Forum Selection in Transnational Cases) (available below), Part I.A & B (forum non conveniens) [Text pp. 731-753], focus on Loya and Piper
ICL hypothetical version #4 (available below)
Assignment for Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Reading List Part III.D, E & F
Assignment for Monday, January 29, 2024
Reading List Part III.A, B & C Outline strategy for serving process on each of the potential TIMCO defendants
Also, look at the website of the Hague Conference on Private International Law and find the section on the Service Convention, especially the “status table”
Assignment for Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Reading List Part II.E-H. Consider:
Are there other FSIA exceptions relevant to our case? What happens if we can demonstrate an exception? What happens if a defendant isn’t covered by the FSIA? Assignment for Monday, January 22, 2024
Reading List Part II.A-D, focus on Dole, Weltover and the note cases in the Supplement. Read ICL Hypothetical Version #3 [available below]; outline the plaintiff’s possible FSIA concerns, if any.
Assignment for Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Reading List Part I.D-G Read ICL Hypothetical Version #2 [available below]; outline the defendants’ strategy and risks relating to personal jurisdiction. (Note: this will involve careful review of the prior assignment.)
No Class Monday, January 15, 2024 (King holiday)
Assignment for Wednesday, January 10, 2024
Reading List Part I.C, focus on GT Securities. Outline the arguments for establishing personal jurisdiction in California in the potential McKenna v. TIMCO litigation. What additional facts need to be investigated?
Assignment for first class meeting (January 8, 2024):
(1) Read “ICL hypothetical – version #1” [available below] and be prepared to discuss the following:
What legal issues may be posed by the transnational aspects of the dispute described in the hypothetical (that is, litigation issues aside from the merits of the client’s claim)? Try to identify at least three potential barriers to a successful outcome for your client. Consider what additional facts you might want to investigate that implicate these sorts of issues (as distinct from the merits of the case).
(2) Read pp. 383-409 of the casebook [Note: this is Part I.A &B of the Reading List]. For many students this material may seem familiar from Civil Procedure; consider it with particular focus on transnational litigation. Why do these issues matter so much more in transnational litigation than they do in domestic litigation?
COURSE DOWNLOADS
Assignment for first class meeting (Jan. 8, 2024) Reading List -- Unit 1 (Suing Transnational Defendants)
ICL Hypothetical Version #2 (for 1/17) ICL Hypothetical Version #3 (for 1/22)
ICL Hypothetical Version #4 (for 2/5) ICL Hypothetical Version #5 (for 2/7 & 2/12)
ICL Hypothetical Version #6 (for 2/19)
ICL Hypothetical Version #7 (for 3/13) Uniform Foreign Money Judgments Recognition Act (UFMJRA) (the 1962 Act)
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