Month: July 2017

  • Lago Agrio: Dutch Appeals Court Affirms Denial of Annulment

    The Court of Appeals of the Hague has affirmed a lower court decision decision refusing to set aside the interim awards Chevron had won against Ecuador in the investment treaty arbitration. The main questions before the lower court were, first, whether Chevron or Texaco had an “investment” in Ecuador for purposes of the BIT, and,……

  • He Sullies and Degrades Everything He Touches

    He Sullies and Degrades Everything He Touches

    I’ve always liked Robert Graves’s historical fiction, even though Graves himself thought the books were popular claptrap. I’m not ashamed to admit it. Anyway, I’ve been remembering the part of the story involving the mad emperor Caligula from I, Claudius, as narrated by his clever uncle, who was later to be the emperor Claudius. By……

  • Case of the Day: Lunn v. Commonwealth

    It’s not really on-topic, but I want to tell you about an interesting decision from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court yesterday, Lunn v. Commonwealth (Mass. 2017). Sreynuon Lunn was arraigned on a charge of robbery in the Boston Municipal Court. Bail was set at $1,500, and because Lunn could not post bail, he was committed……

  • Jared Hubbard on the Texas Loophole

    I’m happy to welcome new commenter Jared Hubbard to Letters Blogatory! Jared has a practice in Newburyport, and before that was most recently an associate with White & Case. He knows whereof he writes, because he’s admitted to practice in Texas, and he was counsel to OPEC in the Freedom Watch case, which I’ve covered……

  • Case to Watch: In re Abu Zubaydah

    Readers, you will want to keep an eye on In re Application of Zayn Al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn (Abu Zabaydah), a really interesting § 1782 application pending in the Eastern District of Washington. Abu Zabaydah was a key figure in the government’s pre- and post-9/11 efforts to fight Al Qaeda. I’m not going to detail the……