The transnational litigation handled by Munger, Tolles & Olson often involves complex issues encompassing cross-jurisdictional disputes, forum non conveniens, antitrust, intellectual property, the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), environmental and other areas.

Munger Tolles’ work has earned it the trust of leading multinational corporations which regularly turn to our attorneys to handle sensitive global matters.

Key Representations

• Archer Daniels Midland in its successful motion to dismiss an ATS action in the district court. We subsequently defended Archer Daniels Midland in its appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit arising from the company’s cocoa operations in West Africa.
• Korean-based LG Display in multi-district antitrust litigation based on cartel allegations.
• Norton Simon Museum in a matter involving official acts of the Dutch and Russian governments.
• Occidental Petroleum in an ATS action arising from the company’s operations in Colombia.
• Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) in litigation stemming from the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
• The J. Paul Getty Trust in litigation before the Italian criminal courts in a matter related to a Fourth Century BCE Greek Bronze statue.
• Swiss-based Transocean in successfully defending the drilling company in civil and criminal litigation arising from the April 20, 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Munger Tolles obtained a trial verdict in the federal multidistrict litigation, concluding that Transocean was not grossly negligent and, therefore was (1) fully indemnified by BP for compensatory damages and (2) not liable for punitive damages. In actions brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, Munger Tolles secured a favorable settlement.
• Unocal Corp. in a highly publicized ATS action arising from the construction of a gas pipeline in Myanmar. Significant results included (1) successful motions under the act of state doctrine to dismiss all property-related claims, as well as a claim filed by a member of the Myanmar military; (2) denial of plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction; and (3) dismissal of all of plaintiffs’ remaining claims through summary judgment.
• General Electric Company in wrongful death litigation arising from the crash of a China Eastern Airlines jet equipped with GE jet engines. The case resulted in a published court of appeal decision affirming the granting of a defense motion to transfer the case, on forum non conveniens grounds, from Los Angeles state court to courts in Beijing.
• A major aerospace company in investigations by the U.K. Air Accident Investigation Branch and U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.
• A Silicon Valley social media company in connection with privacy-based civil claims in Brazil, Spain and other countries.
• A U.S.-based film studio in connection with civil litigation in France arising out of a failed licensing agreement.
• A U.S.-based film studio in connection with a German criminal and civil tax matter related to film finance funds.
• A U.S.-based oil company in connection with claims that its operations adversely affected the environment in the Amazon jungle.
• A U.S.-based oil company in connection with environmental exposure claims brought in France

Contact:
Joseph D. Lee