Litigation & Dispute Resolution
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Litigation & Dispute Resolution Third Edition Contributing Editor: Michael Madden Published by Global Legal Group CONTENTS Preface Michael Madden, Winston & Strawn London LLP Australia Colin Loveday, Richard Abraham & David Birch, Clayton Utz 1 Belgium Koen Van den Broeck & Thales Mertens, Allen & Overy LLP 11 British Virgin Islands Scott Cruickshank & David Harby, Lennox Paton 17 Bulgaria Assen Georgiev & Deyan Draguiev, CMS Cameron McKenna LLP – Bulgaria Branch 29 Canada Caroline Abela, Krista Chaytor & Marie-Andrée Vermette, WeirFoulds LLP 40 Cayman Islands Ian Huskisson, Anna Peccarino & Charmaine Richter, Travers Thorp Alberga 50 Cyprus Anastasios A. Antoniou & Aquilina Demetriadi, Anastasios Antoniou LLC 57 England & Wales Michael Madden & Justin McClelland, Winston & Strawn London LLP 67 Estonia Pirkka-Marja Põldvere & Marko Pikani, Aivar Pilv Law Offi ce 86 Finland Markus Kokko & Niki J. Welling, Attorneys at Law Borenius Ltd 98 France Erwan Poisson & Camille Fléchet, Allen & Overy LLP 105 Germany Dr. Stefan Rützel & Dr. Andrea Leufgen, Gleiss Lutz 116 Guernsey Christian Hay & Michael Adkins, Collas Crill 125 India Siddharth Thacker, Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe 132 Indonesia Alexandra Gerungan, Lia Alizia & Christian F. Sinatra, Makarim & Taira S. 143 Ireland David Kavanagh & John O’Riordan, Dillon Eustace 153 Korea Kap-you (Kevin) Kim, John P. Bang & David MacArthur, Bae, Kim & Lee LLC 163 Lithuania Agnė Bilotaitė & Marius Tamošiūnas, Judickienė and Partners JUREX 172 Luxembourg Jackye Elombo & Florence Piret, Wildgen, Partners in Law 181 Mexico Miguel Angel Hernandez-Romo Valencia & Miguel Angel Hernandez-Romo, Bufete Hernández Romo 190 Nigeria Matthias Dawodu, Benedict Oregbemhe & Onyinye Ukegbu, S. P. A. Ajibade & Co 196 Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali, Nida Aftab & Asad Rahim Khan, Ashtar Ali & Co. 209 Poland Dr. Barbara Jelonek-Jarco & Agnieszka Trzaska, KKG Kubas Kos Gaertner 220 Portugal Nuno Lousa & Manuel Castelo Branco, Linklaters LLP 229 Spain Álvaro López de Argumedo & Juliana de Ureña, Uría Menéndez 238 Switzerland Balz Gross, Claudio Bazzani & Julian Schwaller, Homburger 248 Tunisia Yosra Abid & Salah Dakhlaoui, Dakhlaoui Avocats 260 Turkey Gökmen Başpınar & Kaan Gök, Baspinar & Partners Law Firm 274 USA Stephen R. Smerek, Bruce R. Braun & Andrew S. Jick, Winston & Strawn LLP 282 Uruguay Carlos Brandes & Federico Florin, Guyer & Regules 292 Venezuela Jesus Escudero E. & Raúl J. Reyes Revilla, Torres, Plaz & Araujo 301 USA Stephen R. Smerek, Bruce R. Braun & Andrew S. Jick Winston & Strawn LLP Effi ciency and integrity of process The United States is world-renowned for the effi ciency and integrity of its judicial system in resolving criminal and civil litigation. The US court system is split into a federal system and 50 independent State systems. Although there is some overlap between the systems, they are separate. State courts are courts of general jurisdiction − unless pre-empted by federal law, State courts can generally hear any type of claim. Federal courts, on the other hand, can only adjudicate claims if they have “subject matter” jurisdiction (most commonly in cases arising under federal law, or involving citizens of different States). Within both the federal and State judicial systems, there are trial courts, intermediate appellate courts which hear appeals as of right, and supreme courts which hear appeals as a matter of discretion. Various procedural mechanisms exist allowing courts to dispose of cases early. In response to a plaintiff’s complaint, a defendant may fi le a motion to dismiss (or a “demurrer”, as it is called in many State courts) seeking dismissal of the complaint. Courts may dismiss a complaint if its factual allegations, even if they are assumed to be true, are insuffi cient to state a plausible entitlement to relief. Courts have held that bare recitals of the elements of a cause of action are insuffi cient to survive a motion to dismiss. See Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009). Even if a case proceeds past a motion to dismiss and through discovery, both sides have the option to move for summary judgment, which allows a court to decide the case in the moving party’s favour as a matter of law, if the non-moving party fails to introduce admissible evidence establishing the existence of a genuine issue of material fact for trial. Additionally, courts can order parties to engage in alternative dispute resolution mechanisms including mediation, settlement conference, or early neutral evaluation. (These mechanisms are described in more detail below.) As the number of civil lawsuits continues to increase, courts’ budgets continue to be cut, and the strain on the court system continues to rise, courts may feel more pressure to utilise these various mechanisms to dispose of cases early and relieve the burden on their dockets. American law, like English law from which it derives, is founded on principles of natural justice. The US Constitution guarantees that the individual’s right to due process and equal protection of the laws cannot be infringed by governmental action. In general, due process requires that an individual be given notice, and an opportunity to be heard before a fair and impartial tribunal, before that person’s rights can be adjudicated. For example, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure have strict rules regarding service of process, including that summons and a complaint must be personally served on a defendant, where feasible. Litigants have a right to an impartial judge. As the United States Supreme Court has held, if a judge has a direct personal or pecuniary interest in the outcome of a case, the judge must recuse himself or herself from deciding the case. Otherwise, such a confl ict of interest taints the judgment and is grounds for reversal. Equal protection of the laws guarantees that the law will not discriminate against any individual based on certain protected characteristics, including but not limited to race, GLI - Litigation & Dispute Resolution Third Edition 282 www.globallegalinsights.com © Published and reproduced with kind permission by Global Legal Group Ltd, London Winston & Strawn LLP USA national origin, gender, and wealth. All citizens are entitled to equal access to justice. The independence of the judiciary from political infl uence is also a core tenet of US law, but it is implemented differently in the federal and State judicial systems. Under the Constitution, all federal judges are appointed by the President, confi rmed by a majority vote of the Senate, and serve lifetime terms. Some States have a similar process for judicial appointments. But, in other States, judges are elected, similar to public offi cials. In these States, judges can run (sometimes contentious) campaigns and must stand for re-election after a number of years. Even State supreme court justices must be re-elected periodically. Thus, in these States, judges may be subject to pressure to make politically popular rulings in high-profi le cases to avoid polarising the electorate against them. To paint with a broad brush, Federal courts tend to demand strict compliance with the rule of law and apply procedure more closely, whereas State courts are more attuned to local tendencies and may give more consideration to equitable principles of justice or fairness. State courts have a higher volume and more diversity in their cases, and are more susceptible to local budgetary issues. Thus, State courts have less time than Federal courts to delve into complex legal issues, and are more likely to allow cases to proceed to trial. Federal courts tend to be more likely to dispose of cases on motions to dismiss, or for summary judgment. Privilege and disclosure Discovery in Federal and State courts is governed by rules of procedure enacted by the legislatures of each respective jurisdiction. Each State has its own rules governing discovery. As a general matter, the scope of discovery is extremely broad. Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, any document that is reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence is discoverable unless it is privileged. Most States have similar rules. Even documents that contain commercially sensitive information, such as trade secrets, or highly sensitive personal information, if relevant, are generally discoverable. Thus, in litigation involving sensitive matters (including most litigation involving large companies), it is common for parties to enter into discovery confi dentiality agreements. Such agreements restrict the receiving party’s ability to disclose information designated as confi dential by the producing party outside of the litigation. Parties may move for a protective order to block discovery when the information sought is unduly burdensome considering the importance of the information, the diffi culty and expense of producing it, and its availability from some other, more convenient source. The most common forms of privilege include the attorney-client privilege and the attorney work product doctrine. The attorney-client privilege protects from disclosure confi dential communications between attorneys and their clients made for the purpose of seeking or providing legal advice. The privilege also includes communications between an attorney and a prospective client. When the client is a corporation, different jurisdictions apply different rules. In some States, only high-level management’s communications with its in-house or outside counsel are privileged, but in other States and in Federal court, the privilege extends