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March 27, 2008
Non-U.S. clients, non-U.S. courts--and punitive damages.
Many clients from Europe loathe and avoid U.S. courts, especially state courts. They prefer arbitration panels, even when arbitration itself threatens to be trial-like and lengthy. The expensive and drawn-out American court litigation process and its hefty jury awards--which often include a huge punitive damages component--is feared. And foreign courts, when faced with enforcing American punitive awards, are just as skittish. At the same time, some countries are starting to experiment with punitives, a mutant and now barely recognizable creature of American and English common law. See in yesterday's NYT "Foreign Courts Wary of U.S. Punitive Damages".
Posted by JD Hull at March 27, 2008 11:59 PM
Comments
I think there are political reasons behind the discrepancy between US and European systems, which I discussed here:
Punitive Damages: Why America is Different than Europe
http://www.newyorkpersonalinjuryattorneyblog.com/2008/03/punitive-damages-why-america-is.html
Posted by: Eric Turkewitz at March 27, 2008 11:02 AM
today's FTimes has a pretty good piece on client service
Moe
Posted by: Moe Levine at March 27, 2008 09:37 AM
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