Author: Ted Folkman

  • Case of the Day: Missouri v. China

    The case of the day is Missouri v. People’s Republic of China (8th Cir. 2024). I’ve written about the case before, most recently in July 2022. The gist of the case is that Missouri seeks to hold the Chinese government, the Chinese Communist Party, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, etc. liable for harms resulting from……

  • The Evidence Convention and Contemplated Proceedings

    There is always something new to learn about the Evidence Convention! Recently I was consulted by a client for whom I had prepared letters of request. The case had settled, but the client expected a new, related case to be filed soon. Could we “get the ball rolling” by seeking issuance of letters of request……

  • Case of the Day: Baikowitz v. Jacobson

    Happy new year! The case of the day is Baikowitz v. Jacobson (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2023). Baikowitz, the curator of his father’s property, sued Jacobson in Montreal seeking to recover $750,000, which he said his father had invested in several of Jacobson’s projects, on the grounds that his father had been mentally impaired when he……

  • Chimpanzee Habeas!

    The Nonhuman Right Project, fresh off another loss in its elephant habeas quest, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in Michigan, supposedly on behalf of chimpanzees held at the DeYoung Family Zoo. The legal issues are in my view the same whether the non-human animal in question is an elephant or a……

  • More on Rulemaking and Cross-Border Discovery: FRCP 28

    My last post on the desirability of amending the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to account for cross-border discovery got me thinking more about the topic. Let’s look at one of my favorite rules, FRCP 28. It’s little-known, but in some ways it’s the key rule for cross-border discovery practice. Rule 28 provides that that a……