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Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Europe v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, No. 21-7019 · judgment January 25, 2022


Certiorari denied · October 3, 2022
Pre-decision estimate: 4% cert probability

Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a D.C. Circuit decision below and a circuit split argued in the petition.

Question presented

Whether a District Court deciding a motion for default judgment may find service upon a foreign State pursuant to Article 15 of the Hague Service Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil and Commercial Matters and the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act where the plaintiff actually delivered service papers to the State’s Central Authority, its Foreign Ministry, and the Central Authority refused to deliver the papers to the Venezuelan Attorney General, a State organ to which the Venezuelan Central Authority should have delivered papers under Venezuela’s internal law.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Alexander Athan Yanos
Alston & Bird LLP

For respondent
Kent A. Yalowitz
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Proceedings

  1. Oct 03 2022
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Aug 31 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/28/2022.
  3. Aug 31 2022
    Reply of petitioner Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Europe filed. (Distributed)
  4. Aug 17 2022
    Brief of respondent Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in opposition filed.
  5. Jul 18 2022
    Response Requested. (Due August 17, 2022)
  6. Jun 29 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/28/2022.
  7. Jun 27 2022
    Waiver of right of respondent Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to respond filed.
  8. Jun 16 2022
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due July 21, 2022)