Month: June 2012

  • Case of the Day: Patton Boggs v. Chevron

    In today’s case of the day, Patton Boggs LLP v. Chevron Corp. (D.C. Cir. 2012), the D.C. Circuit finally drove a stake through the heart of one of the satellite cases in the Lago Agrio litigation. Patton Boggs had sued Chevron and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher for a declaration that it was not conflicted out……

  • Case of the Day: Starski v. Kirzhnev

    Today’s case of the day, Starski v. Kirzhnev (1st Cir. 2012), is the appellate decision on one of my favorite cases of the day—I wrote about the District Court decision in my post of March 21, 2011. Here was my description of the facts: Vietnam owed a debt to Russia. Starski had connections in the……

  • A Brief Comment on the Julian Assange Diplomatic Asylum Request

    The commentary on Julian Assange’s legal situation now that he has sought asylum at the Ecuadoran embassy in London has begun to roll in from the public international law blogs. I am basically unsympathetic to Mr. Assange, but in light of Letters Blogatory’s coverage of the Ecuadoran legal system in the context of the Lago……

  • Update on the Summary Judgment Motions in the Lago Agrio RICO Case

    Back in March, I noted that Chevron had moved for partial summary judgment in the RICO case it had filed in New York against Donziger, Naranjo and others. In its motion, Chevron contended that the RICO defendants had set up the Ecuadoran judgment as claim- and issue-preclusive on the question whether the Ecuadoran proceedings were……

  • Case of the Day: In re Vitro

    The case of the day is In re Vitro S.A.B. de C.V. (Bankr. N.D. Tex. 2012). Vitro, a Mexican glass manufacturer, was in reorganization proceedings in Nuevo León, Mexico under the Ley de Concursos Mercantiles. In 2011, Vitro began a Chapter 15 bankruptcy proceeding in the Northern District of Texas and sought to enjoin lawsuits……