We are pleased to report that Freehill Partners John Karpousis and Mike Tucker have successfully defended an appeal before the Second Circuit, which affirmed the lower court’s dismissal of a wrongful death case on grounds of forum non conveniens.
The matter involved the claim of a French national decedent, working for the Belgian branch of the International Center for Transitional Justice. The decedent’s Estate sued ICTJ US, a corporate affiliate. Decedent contracted malaria when working on a project on the Ivory Coast for the ICTJ Belgium and died. He established an Estate in New York surrogates court and filed suit against the US based affiliate in the SDNY. Magistrate Judge Lehrberger dismissed the claim and found Belgium to be an adequate and more proper alternate forum. Judge Carter adopted those finding and the Second Circuit affirmed that decision in whole. These decisions are available here, Magistrate Judge Report and Recommendation, District Court’s Decision, Second Circuit Decision . The claim was defended by FH&M as part of AIG’s Home Foreign Voluntary coverage program.