Exam 3: Resolving International Commercial Disputes

Civil litigation is the primary means of settling contract disputes in the U.S.than in virtually any other country.

Choice of law clauses in contracts stipulate in advance what court the parties will use in case of a dispute and thereby avoid conflicts of law issues.

In what ways do the requirements for jurisdiction differ from those of European nations? How are they similar?

The Blowout Company is a German corporation and manufacturer of the California Custom tire,a tire that is compatible with Harley Davidson motorcycles manufactured in the United States.Tofu Granola,a resident of Santa Cruz,California,purchased a pair of California Custom tires for his Harley.Granola purchased the tires from Goodstone Tires,Inc.,a California corporation,at its store in Half Moon Bay,California.The Blowout Company and Goodstone provided assistance to their customers through maintenance of a toll-free hotline.Granola subsequently suffered severe injuries in an accident caused by the separation of the tread on the front tire of his Harley.If Granola files a lawsuit against Blowout in California state court,does such court have personal jurisdiction over Blowout? Why or why not?

Weigh the relative benefits of a foreign citizen bringing suit in the U.S.as compared with bringing suit in their home state.

Many European countries refuse to enforce choice of law or jurisdiction clauses in consumer agreements,while U.S.courts typically enforce these.Consider the reasons and ramifications of these different approaches.

The Bhopal disaster taught American corporations that they could insulate themselves from legal liability by having foreign control of the plant.

The results of a mediation are not binding on either party.

The term mediation when dealing with dispute resolution refers to the situation where:

In a California lawsuit between a U.S.resident and a manufacturer based in Taiwan,what might limit the jurisdiction of the California court?

Compare and contrast the relative benefits of arbitration and court adjudication.

According to the Asahi Metal case,merely placing your product into "the stream of commerce,"where it is a component in a product,is not sufficient to establish jurisdiction over a foreign company.

Weigh the relative merits of using ADR and domestic courts in international disputes.

One advantage of arbitration is that awards are recognized by the signers of the U.N.Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (or,the New York Convention).

In general,at common law and in civil law jurisdictions,the choice of law clauses is rarely upheld.

Write a position paper advocating that jurisdictional choice of law clauses should be enforced in international transactions.

With mediation as a form of dispute resolution,the parties may at any point initiate litigation or agree to submit the dispute to arbitration.

Outline an on-line Dispute Resolution procedure or body to handle international e-commerce disputes.

In what ways do forum selection and choice of law clauses serve similar interests? In what ways do they serve different or unrelated interests?

In the U.S.,jurisdiction is: I.Defined by the U.S.Constitution II.Defined by various statutes