Lawyers in the firm represent domestic and foreign companies, governmental entities and individuals in a wide range of disputes, including Commercial Litigation, Corporate and Securities Litigation, Product Liability and Mass Tort, White Collar Criminal, Intellectual Property, Information Technology, Antitrust and Unfair Trade Practices, Construction, Insurance, Creditor's Rights and Bankruptcy, Employment, Environmental, Class Actions, Banking and Finance, Energy and Natural Resources, and Telecom.

 

Personal and Subject-Matter Jurisdiction and Forum Non Conveniens Questions of jurisdiction arise frequently in many of the cases which we litigate in the U.S. and Canadian courts. We have extensive experience litigating whether such courts may exercise personal jurisdiction over foreign defendants and whether North American laws, particularly securities and anti-trust laws, may be applied to conduct outside North America. We have been quite successful over the years urging that courts rely on the doctrine of forum non conveniens to dismiss cases that, though jurisdictionally properly before them, are found to be better suited to being adjudicated in the court of another country, because the cause of action arose elsewhere or documents or witnesses were out of the jurisdiction or available only in a foreign language.

 

Foreign Service of Process and Discovery

We regularly advise on, coordinate the request of and accomplish the service of process on foreign defendants in litigation in North American courts by the Hague Service Convention, Inter-American Service Convention and Letters Rogatory, and assist clients outside North America with service of defendants in foreign actions. We frequently conduct discovery abroad for use in North American litigation via Hague Evidence Convention, Inter-American Evidence Convention, and Letters Rogatory, and assist clients with responses to foreign requests for discovery for use in foreign courts.

 

Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act

Disputes with foreign governments and entities owned or controlled by foreign governments implicate the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Acts ("FSIA") of the United States and Canada. The FSIA has its own rules concerning such matters as jurisdiction, service of process and attachments and contains pitfalls for the uninformed. We have had extensive experience in representing and suing foreign state entities in federal and state courts. Our cases have involved every aspect of the FSIA and have resulted in several significant reported opinions relating to jurisdictional and other issues. We have been involved in litigation on behalf of, or adverse to, foreign states or the state-owned entities of Brazil, the People's Republic of China, Colombia, Germany, Iran, Iraq, the Republic of Ireland, Israel, the Republic of Korea, The Netherlands, Peru, The Russian Federation, the former Soviet Union, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and Venezuela.

 

Prejudgment Attachments and Injunctions

We have been involved in a variety of cases in which there has been a need to obtain attachments or injunctions in order to protect the interests of our clients. Working with our offices outside North America, we frequently obtain attachments in foreign countries to obtain payment of judgments and arbitration awards.

 

Enforcement of Foreign Judgments and Arbitration Awards

We regularly advise on and handle the enforcement of or defense of foreign judgments and arbitration awards in North America and, in conjunction with foreign counsel, advise on the enforceability of North American judgments and arbitration awards.

 

Recent representative matters include the following:

 

• We represented the Republic of Ecuador in the successful defense of a $965 million lawsuit brought by an American power company seeking to enforce an arbitral award and claims for related damages.
• We are representing a large Japanese chemical corporation in multiple class-action lawsuits in both the United States and Canada. The amount of claims exceeds $80 million and involves allegations of price-fixing.
• We are representing a leading Canadian software company in litigation against a Swiss company and are seeking more than $100 million in damages for stock manipulation.
• We are representing a major United States telecommunications company in a significant trademark infringement action involving alleged infringement by a Canadian telecommunications company. The claims and counterclaims exceed $500 million.
• We are defending an American corporation in a multimillion dollar action against a Greek aircraft company that involves significant issues of law involving the doctrine of abstention in transnational disputes.
• We are representing a U.S. aircraft lessor in asserting its multimillion dollar claims in a U.S. district court for breach of an aircraft lease by the Greek lessees. The litigation has resulted in a court of appeals decision highly favorable to our client reversing the district court's dismissal of the case on grounds of abstention and forum non conveniens.
• We represented a German corporation in litigation resulting from alleged environmental contamination emanating from a plant site owned by its U.S. subsidiary. The German company resisted U.S. discovery on the basis that the Hague Evidence Convention should control all discovery taken against it. We litigated this issue in the district court and then through a petition for mandamus to the court of appeals and a petition for a writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court.
• We represented a U.S. company in the prosecution of claims arising out of the termination of its former distributor in Bolivia. After a criminal case and a civil proceeding were brought against the U.S. company in Bolivia by the former distributor, we responded with a lawsuit in federal court in Miami charging the former distributor and its chief executive officer with violations of the Alien Tort Claims Act and with violations of Bolivian law. The matter settled on favorable terms after the U.S. court denied motions to dismiss the action and the deposition of several Bolivian witnesses.
• We represented a U.S. chemical company in the successful defense of an action brought in Miami by its former distributor for enforcement of an Ecuadoran judgment for the equivalent of some $10 million.
• We acted for a global financial institution in its efforts to uncover a $12 million fraud involving the movement of money and wine assets across several jurisdictions including England, Jersey, Switzerland, United States, Canada and Hong Kong. Litigation, including relief and seizure of documents in three countries, resulted in a significant recovery of assets for our client.
• We have acted in litigation relating the enforcement of an arbitration award issued from the Arbitration Court of the Polish Chamber of Commerce in Warsaw, Poland and in particular the effect of an appeal to the Polish courts upon recognition of the award in Canada under the UNCITRAL Mode Law.
• In cooperation with our Madrid office, we represented a defendant U.S. software company and its parent, a U.S. telecom, in an action in the Spanish courts. The plaintiff, a Spanish bank, alleged that the software development company breached a software license and development contract and committed fraud. The plaintiff alleged that the parent was the alter ego of the defendant. We obtained a judgment dismissing the complaint against both companies in its entirety, and our client was awarded $1.08 million on its counterclaim for unpaid software maintenance fees.