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Case of the Day: Levinson v. Kuwait Finance House
The case of the day is Levinson v. Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) Berhad (2d Cir. 2022). Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent, was, according to the FBI, taken hostage by the government of Iran and tortured. He is presumed dead. His wife Christine, on her own behalf and as conservator of his estate, obtained a……
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Elephant Habeas: Mandamus Denied
The Nonhuman Rights Project was so interested in having its elephant habeas heard in San Francisco rather than Fresno that it filed a petition for a writ of mandamus seeking review of a San Francisco judge’s decision last month to send the case to Fresno, where the elephants and the Fresno Zoo are located. Although……
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Case of the Day: McCarthy v. Johnson
The case of the day is McCarthy v. Johnson (D.D.C. 2022). The plaintiff had won a $6 million judgment against Michael Heath Johnson, who, she alleged, had bilked her out of millions of dollars in the 1980s, during a particularly vulnerable time for her. The District of Utah had entered judgment by default after Johnson……
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Case of the Day: Smart Study v. Acuteye
The case of the day is Smart Study Co., Ltd. v. Acuteye-US (S.D.N.Y. 2022). It’s too soon to declare victory, but this is yet another case correctly holding that when the Service Convention applies and the state of destination has objected to service by postal channels, service by email is forbidden. The case involved a……
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Lago Agrio: District of Columbia Disbars Donziger
The DC Court of Appeals has disbarred Steven Donziger. Donziger may seek review in the Supreme Court, but assuming that he’s unsuccessful—a good bet—the new decision is the end of the line for his attempt to preserve his right to practice law in the United States. The decision was as I predicted in my last……