The Case for an International Court of Civil Justice

Description

When multinational corporations cause mass harms to lives, livelihoods, and the environment in developing countries, it is nearly impossible for victims to find a court that can and will issue an enforceable judgment. In this work, Professor Maya Steinitz presents a detailed rationale for the creation of an International Court of Civil Justice (ICCJ) to hear such transnational mass tort cases. The world's legal systems were not designed to solve these kinds of complex transnational disputes, and the absence of mechanisms to ensure coordination means that victims try, but fail, to find justice in country after country, court after court. The Case for an International Court of Civil Justice explains how an ICCJ would provide victims with access to justice and corporate defendants with a non-corrupt forum and an end to the cost and uncertainty of unending litigation - more efficiently resolving the most complicated types of civil litigation. Cover Half-title Title page Copyright information Dedication Table of contents Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction I Adjudicating Cross-border Mass Torts: A Problem of Forum, Not Just of Law II Incentives and Feasibility OF A NEW COURT III The Proposal 1 How New International Courts Come into Being I Theoretical Models II The Case Histories A The International Criminal Court 1 Legal and Institutional Precedents – Experimentation and Idea Contagion 2 Change Agents 3 Geopolitical Change and Constitutional Moments B The World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Understanding C The Iran–United States Claims Tribunal D The Jerusalem Arbitration Center III Holdouts? A The United States B China IV Gathering Winds 2 The Human Toll I A Tragedy in Bhopal, India A The Disaster and Its Decades-Long Aftermath B The Inconvenient Forum C Enterprise Liability D Aftershocks II The Devastation of the Ecuadorian Rain Forest A Background B Round One: In the Courts of the United States C Round Two: In the Courts of Ecuador D No Clear Winner: Seeking and Defending Against Enforcement the World Over III Human Rights Abuses in Nigeria A Oil, Unrest, and Violence B A Clear Path to US Courts? C The Closing of the Courthouse Doors IV Systemic Flaws in Transnational Litigation A Boomerang, Parallel, and Sequential Litigation B The Effects of Corporate Structures on Transnational Litigation C Moral Hazards 3 The Problem of the Missing Forum I Multinational Corporations’ Home Courts A US Courts and Foreign Plaintiffs 1 Declining to Act as Global Courts 2 The Overall Decline of Access to Justice in US Courts B The Courts of Europe II Litigating in Courts of the Jurisdiction Where the Mass Injury Occurred III International Arbitration IV Single-Issue International Courts, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and Corporate Social Responsibility V A Better Solution: The International Court of Civil Justice 4 The Business Case for the ICCJ I Rising Direct Litigation Costs A Forum Shopping, Parallel and Sequential Litigation II The Indirect Costs of Litigation A Uncertainty and the Restraint on Business Activities B Distracted Management and Criminal Prosecution C Harms to Reputation and Goodwill D Change in Investment Climate III The Cost of Corruption and the Value of the Rule of Law IV The Global Peace Premium V Backlash and the New Transnational Litigtionscape A The Rise of Litigation Finance B The Rise of the Global Entrepreneurial Lawyer C Blocking Statutes and Other Pro-Plaintiff Legislation 1 Blocking Statutes and Litigation-Enabling Legislation 2 Class Action Goes Global VI Business Ethics VII Global Growth as the Tide That Lifts All Boats 5 Institutional and Procedural Features of an ICCJ I Institutional Relationships A With States Parties 1 The Two-Tiered Structure of an ICCJ and Its Effect on Institutional Arrangements 2 Dependent or Independent? 3 Composition of the Court B With Other International Organizations II Jurisdiction and Admissibility A Temporal Jurisdiction B Subject Matter Jurisdiction 1 Mass Claims and Mass Torts 2 “Cross-Border” Claims and Enterprise Liability 3 Applicable Law C Personal Jurisdiction D Admissibility – Relationship of the ICCJ to National Courts III Procedural Features A Civil Law–Common Law Hybrids B Claim Screening and Routing C Alternative Dispute Resolution D Nonrepresentative Collective Litigation E Representative Actions F Supervision and Administration of Aggregate Settlement G Remedies H Appellate Review IV Financing the Operation of the Court Conclusion Notes Introduction 1 How New International Courts Come into Being 2 The Human Toll 3 The Problem of the Missing Forum 4 The Business Case for the ICCJ 5 Institutional and Procedural Features of an ICCJ Conclusion Index