The World in U.S. Courts:
Summer 2014

Please click the links below to read a summary of the decision described. Copies of any case discussed in this issue are available upon request.

Please note that Orrick may be representing parties in the cases discussed below.  Nothing in the informal summaries contained in this publication should be taken as commenting on the merits of cases, or as binding constructions of court opinions that are discussed.

Alien Tort Statute (ATS)/Torture Victims Protection Act (TVPA)/Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (VTVPA)/Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act (FSIA)

District Court Dismisses Holocaust-ERA Reparations Claim Under the ATS Because Preexisting Treaty Precluded Jurisdiction Under FSIA

Court of Appeals Holds That Alleged U.S. Connections to Torture at Abu Graib Prison Overcome Presumption of no extraterritorial Application of ATS

Court of Appeals Applies Fifth Amendment, But Not Fourth Amendment, to Killing in Mexico Caused by Shots Fired from the U.S.

District Court Dismisses ATS Claims, but Upholds Related TVPA Claims, Where All Relevant Acts Occurred in Bolivia

District Court Holds That Corporations May Be Liable Under the ATS, Clarifying Muddled Law in the Second Circuit

District Court Allows ATS Suit to Proceed Where Actions Supporting Alleged Violations in Sri Lanka Were Taken in the U.S.

District Court Holds That Corporations May Be Liable Under the ATS But That U.S. Corporation Organized to Bring Claims Lacked Standing to Sue

District Court Concludes That Failure to Provide Adequate Electrical Service Cannot Support an ATS Claim, and States That a U.S. Corporation is not Liable Under the ATS For Activities of a Subsidiary in Cameroun, Even Though Parent Profited From Alleged Conduct

Sherman Act/Antitrust/Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act (FTAIA)

Court of Appeals Holds that Proximate Causation Standard Must be Used to Determine Whether Elements of “Direct” Injury and U.S. Effect that “Gives Rise” to Claim Were Present to Support Jurisdiction

District Court Calls for Briefing on Question Whether FTAIA Applies to State-Law Antitrust Claims

District Court Precludes Antitrust Claims Against Microsoft Involving U.S. Sales of VOIP Services to Indian Customers Because No Injury Alleged to U.S. “Export Business”

Employment Discrimination

District Court Holds that Lack of Extraterritorial Application of Title VI Warrants Dismissal Even Though Certain Non-U.S. Employees Were Alleged to Have “Worked” in the U.S. Electronically, Via the Internet and by Telephone

Intellectual Property (Patent)

District Court Refuses to Assess Damages Based on Manufacture and Sale of Allegedly Infringing Product Outside the U.S. Under “Hypothetical Negotiation” Theory

Intellectual Property (Trademark)

District Court Finds Lanham Act Jurisdiction to Consider Damages Stemming From Performances in Australia Where All Parties Are U.S. Entities

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)

Court of Appeals Rewrites Test for Extraterritorial Application of RICO, Focusing on Extraterritorial Scope of Underlying “Predicate Offenses” Implicated

U.S. District Court Upholds Indictment Alleging U.S.-Based RICO Violation, Even Though Scheme Implemented Via Servers Located in Russia

White Collar Criminal

Court of Appeals Concludes That Claim of Improper Extraterritorial Application of Criminal Statute Goes to the Merits of the Charge, Not the Court’s Jurisdiction to Consider it

District Court Finds That Defendant’s Participation in Conspiracy to Attack U.S. Helicopters in Colombia Establishes Sufficient “Nexus” With U.S. to Establish Constitutionality of Criminal Prosecution

Securities Law

Court of Appeals Rejects “Listing Theory” as Basis for Extending Reach of Securities Laws to Actions to Injuries Allegedly Suffered in Purchase of Non-U.S. Securities on Non-U.S. Exchanges

Court of Appeals Finds Sufficient U.S. Conduct to Support Conviction

Personal Jurisdiction

District Court Finds no Specific or Personal Jurisdiction Over Parties in Connection With Acts Leading to Power Outage in Cameroon

District Court Finds No Personal Jurisdiction Over German Corporations That Were Aware Their Products Were Being Sold Into the Forum State, but had not Targeted That Jurisdiction for Sales

Court of Appeals Rejects Effort to Enforce Arbitration Against Parent of Turkish Conglomerate Whose Subsidiaries Did Business in U.S.

District Court Finds No General Personal Jurisdiction Over Hungarian Railroad Company

In Bankruptcy Proceeding, District Court Finds No General Personal Jurisdiction Over Individuals and Entities Operating Principally Outside U.S.

District Court Finds No General Personal Jurisdiction Over Mexican Helicopter Operator Arising Out of Accident in Mexico

District Court Finds Personal Jurisdiction Defense Waived Despite Evolution of the Law

District Court Finds No General or Specific personal Jurisdiction Over Russian Air Freight Company That Contracted in the U.S. for Delivery of Jet Fuel in Kenya

District Court Finds No Specific Personal Jurisdiction Where Plaintiffs Cannot Show That “But For” the Defendant’s Activities in the Forum State, Their Injuries Would Not Have Occurred

Forum Non Conveniens

District Court Concludes That None of the Factors Necessary to Support Dismissal Based on New Jersey Being an Inconvenient and Unfair Jurisdiction in Which to Litigate Dispute had been Satisfied

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