Month: August 2018

  • From the Archives

    Here, without comment, is a very interesting document, the Fourth Annual Report of the Commission on International Rules of Judicial Procedure, from the 1960s. I wanted to read it because I’ve got a case where I’m rebutting an argument that an obscure Massachusetts statute that mirrors § 1782 applies only to discovery in aid of sister-state litigation……

  • Case of the Day: Daskin v. Knowles

    The case of the day is Daskin v. Knowles (Del. 2018). The wife was a dual citizen of the US and Greece. She and the husband, a Greek citizen, married in Delaware in 1990 and lived together in Greece until 2015. In 2015, the wife moved back to Delaware permanently due to marital problems. She……

  • “Facts are Created”

    One of Chevron’s gotcha moments in the Crude outtakes is the clip of Steven Donziger speaking with members of his litigation team. “Facts don’t exist,” he said, “facts are created.” I draw a few lessons from this clip. The first, of course, is “Don’t ever travel with a film crew.” The second is a little more serious……

  • Case of the Day: Helmerich & Payne v. Venezuela

    The case of the day is Helmerich & Payne International Drilling Co. v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (D.C. Cir. 2018). I’ve written about the case several times before, most recently in a post on the Supreme Court’s 2017 decision. Guest poster Ira Ryk-Lakhman also wrote a more extensive overview of the Supreme Court’s decision. Here……

  • Case of the Day: Chembulk Houston v. M/V Monte Alegre

    The case of the day is Chembulk Houston Pte. Ltd. v. M/V Monte Alegre (S.D. Tex. 2018). Chembulk had won a judgment against German defendants. The question was whether the $1,425 the plaintiff incurred in serving process via the Hague Service Convention was taxable as costs. Why so much? Well, the plaintiff had hired a……