We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Don't Cry for Me Argentina: The Aftermath of Republic of Argentina v. NML Capital and the Uncertain Limits of Post-Judgment Attachment Discovery Against Foreign Sovereigns.
- Authors
Martindale, Colin
- Abstract
Post-judgment discovery allows successful plaintiffs to locate the assets of a defendant who is otherwise unwilling to pay and attach those assets to satisfy a judgment. When the defendant is a foreign sovereign, the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act immunizes most assets from attachment. However, a successful plaintiff cannot know which assets are immune from attachment without first knowing what those assets are. After the Supreme Court's ruling in Republic of Argentina v. NML Capital, district courts have discretion to determine whether a plaintiff can order discovery over potentially immune sovereign assets. This uncertainty creates numerous risks, since different courts use entirely different considerations when deciding whether to grant discovery of sensitive sovereign assets including State secrets, diplomatic property, or even military property. This Note provides the first account of how district courts have evaluated post-judgment attachment discovery requests against foreign sovereigns after NML Capital. It reveals that district courts have used a variety of methods, from approaches allowing for attachment discovery of any sovereign asset worldwide to restrictive approaches that frustrate successful plaintiffs from collecting their judgments. These extremes show the need for uniformity within the federal system, and a proportionality approach taken by the District of DC provides the best method going forward.
- Subjects
LEGAL judgments; GOVERNMENT liability (International law); DISTRICT courts; NML Capital Ltd.; PLAINTIFFS
- Publication
Berkeley Journal of International Law, 2019, Vol 37, Issue 3, p517
- ISSN
1085-5718
- Publication type
Article