News & Insights Three Crowns files amicus submission...

Three Crowns files amicus submission on International Comity with U.S. Supreme Court

Publications 6th March 2018

On 5 March 2018, a team of Three Crowns attorneys filed with the United States Supreme Court an amicus curiae submission in Animal Science Products v. Hebei Welcome Corp. regarding the doctrine of international comity in U.S. law.

Three Crowns partners Luke Sobota and Jan Paulsson along with associates Philipp Kotlaba, Kimberly Larkin, and E Jin Lee filed the brief on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation.

The amicus submission seeks reversal of a Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision that proposes a “clear rule of conclusive deference” toward foreign sovereigns’ interpretations of their domestic laws. It argues that this rule would undermine the traditional balancing of “international duty and convenience” with the rights of U.S. citizens and others under the protection of U.S. law. This could have potential distortive effects upon other areas of U.S. law, including cases involving foreign sovereign immunity; discretionary enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards; and discovery requests in aid of foreign proceedings.

The as-filed amicus submission is available at: http://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/16/16-1220/37763/20180305185552272_2018.03.05 Amicus of USCOC in Supp of Petrs..pdf