Month: September 2011

  • Notes from the State Department

    Notes from the State Department

    Some time ago, I put a few questions to the State Department with a request for comment. Here are the answers I received. LB:  State Department guidance and recent cases indicate that certain foreign central authorities are not carrying out their obligations under multilateral conventions on judicial assistance. For example, the State Department’s guidance on……

  • Case of the Day: Chevron Corp. v. Salazar

    The case of the day, Chevron Corp. v. Salazar (S.D.N.Y. 2011), is a minor discovery dispute in the New York branch of the Lago Agrio litigation that illustrates the war of attrition I suggested in Monday’s post. The case involves the adequacy of Chevron’s privilege log. The magistrate judge reviewed the supposedly privileged documents at……

  • Case of the Day: H-D Michigan, LLC v. Hellenic Duty Free Shops S.A.

    The case of the day is H-D Michigan, LLC v. Hellenic Duty Free Shops S.A. (E.D. Wis. 2011). HD-Michigan and Harley-Davidson Motor Co. sued Hellenic for breach of a trademark licensing agreement. The court issued a temporary restraining order effective for fourteen days, which enjoined Hellenic from using Harley-Davidson’s trademarks. In the case of the……

  • Consolidation of Applications for Judicial Assistance

    We’ve seen many judicial assistance applications filed all over the country by both sides in the Lago Agrio case. Why are these not consolidated into a single proceeding? One answer may be that the parties are engaged in a war of attrition and are not interested in consolidation. Another answer may be that there is……

  • Belfast Project Update: The Government Opposes The Researchers’ Motion to Intervene

    As you know, we are closely following developments in the Boston College Belfast Project case here in Boston. In summary, the US government, at the request of UK authorities under the two countries’ mutual legal assistance treaty, has sought leave to issue a subpoena to Boston College to obtain oral histories that BC collected from……