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Evidentiary Infirmities
Refusing to appear in a civil court in the United States is an option but not an advisable one. The Republic of Sudan suffered a default by doing so, but its Canadian corporate co-defendent won a valuable dismissal in the matter The Presbyterian Church of Sudan et al. v. Talisman Energy, Inc. and Republic of Sudan, docket number 01 Civ. 9882, on September 12, 2006.
The allegations of harm to non-Muslim Africans in the Sudan are serious and may well constitute the type of harm which the Alien Tort Claims Statute, 28 USC §1350, can address. After carefully exploring bases for claims under American, Canadian, English and Mauritian law, the court found for Talisman and noted the lack of evidence connecting the defendant and the harm.
The nation defendant may have similarly found justice had it not decided to ignore the American court. Raising the issue of sovereign immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act requires an appearance. -- Clemens Kochinke, Berliner, Corcoran & Rowe, LLP, Washington, DC.
Mon, / / Embassy Law Link
