A few years ago, I commented on Julian Assange’s bid to win “diplomatic asylum” from Ecuador. As my post indicated, I’m not really sympathetic to Mr. Assange’s legal plight, and my view on that hasn’t changed since 2012. The case was recently in the news again as the UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention released an opinion concluding that Mr. Assange was being arbitrarily detained. Leaving aside sympathy or lack of sympathy for Mr. Assange, I really cannot see how the Working Group could have reached its decision or what kind of sense the decision makes.
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Tag Archives: Sweden
In re Request for Judicial Assistance From the Norrköping District Court
The case of the day is In re Request for Judicial Assistance from the Norrköping District Court (D. Colo. 2015). In connection with paternity proceedings in a Swedish court, the Swedish judge issued a letter of request under the Hague Evidence Convention to the US central authority, and the central authority (the Department of Justice) filed an ex parte application under § 1782 for an order appointing a commissioner to take DNA evidence from the putative father, who was found in Colorado.
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Case of the Day: In re Application of Kazakhstan
The case of the day is In re Application of Republic of Kazakhstan (S.D.N.Y. 2015). I love this case, because it raises one of my favorite issues under § 1782. In 2013, an arbitral tribunal in Sweden awarded Anatolie Stati and related parties $199 million against Kazakhstan on account of the illegal seizure of a gas plant. Kazakhstan brought an action to set aside the award in the Swedish courts, and it sought leave in New York to take discovery from Clyde & Co., which had acted as counsel for third parties in other arbitrations where the value of the gas plant was at issue. Kazakhstan’s hope was that it would find evidence that Stati had used a lower valuation for the plant in those arbitrations than it used in the arbitration against Kazakhstan.
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