This essay in honor of Professor David Stewart addresses an important question that has arisen under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act as well as in private litigation—the availability of a distinct doctrine of international comity abstention as a basis for dismissal of a case in favor of a foreign forum. I argue that various doctrines of adjudicatory comity—parallel proceedings, forum non conveniens, and international abstention—serve separate purposes and that it would be wrong to conflate them or to view them as redundant with each other. I also highlight Professor Stewart’s work on the sovereign immunity sections of the Restatement (Fourth) of Foreign Relations Law and in a Seventh Circuit Amicus Brief, where he distinguishes obligations under international law from discretionary doctrines of comity under U.S. law. I hope David will also agree with me that international comity abstention in both FSIA expropriation cases as well as in certain private cases is appropriate.

Continue Reading Adjudicatory Comity—A Distinct Role for International Abstention in Transnational Cases