AWARDS

CC/Devas (Mauritius) Limited v. Antrix Corp. Ltd.

Issues

When seeking to enforce an international arbitration award in U.S. court, must parties show a sufficient connection with the United States?

This case asks whether plaintiffs must prove minimum contacts before federal courts may assert personal jurisdiction over foreign states sued under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. Antrix, which is an Indian state-owned corporation, repudiated its contract with Devas, which is a private Indian corporation. Devas argues that federal courts in the United States can exercise personal jurisdiction to enforce the arbitration award Devas had won. Antrix counters that because their dispute lacks minimum contact with the United States, federal courts in the United States lack personal jurisdiction to enforce the arbitration award. The outcome of this case has significant implications for international relations and post-judgment asset discovery. 

Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties

Whether plaintiffs must prove minimum contacts before federal courts may assert personal jurisdiction over foreign states sued under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

Petitioner Devas Multimedia Private Ltd. (“Devas”) is a private Indian corporation. Devas Multimedia Private Ltd. v. Antrix Corp. Ltd. at 3. Respondent Antrix Corp. Ltd. (“Antrix”) is a corporation owned by the Government of India.

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Murphy v. Smith

Issues

Whether a statute that allows a prisoner-plaintiff’s lawyer to be awarded attorney’s fees grants discretion to the district court to apportion up to 25% of the prisoner-plaintiff’s monetary judgment towards attorney’s fees, or prevents the district court from exercising discretion and instead requires that the prisoner-plaintiff’s attorney receive exactly 25% of the judgment?

Charles Murphy, an inmate at Vandalia Correctional Center in Vandalia, Illinois, was choked, physically struck, and pushed head-first into a metal toilet—after already losing consciousness—by two correctional officers, Robert Smith and Gregory Fulk. Murphy successfully sued both correctional officers and was awarded a monetary judgment; the district court then held that 10% of the judgment would be applied to attorney’s fees pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d)(2). On appeal, the Seventh Circuit affirmed the correctional officers’ liability but reversed the district court’s apportionment of the plaintiff’s attorney’s fees, holding that the text of the statute required that exactly 25% of the judgment be awarded as attorney’s fees. Murphy argues that both the plain text and the legislative history of the statute indicate that courts have discretion when apportioning attorney’s fees. Smith and Fulk counter that the statute’s text and history point to an exact 25% requirement. In addition to legal analysis, the Supreme Court might also consider wisdom of giving district courts discretion in this context, particularly with regard to the impact discretion would have on deterring government officials from violating prisoners’ federal rights and on discouraging frivolous litigation.

Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties

When a prisoner obtains a monetary judgment in a suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the prisoner’s lawyer is awarded attorney’s fees, “a portion of the judgment (not to exceed 25 percent) shall be applied to satisfy the amount of attorney’s fees awarded against the defendant.” 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d)(2). The defendant pays the remainder of the attorney’s fees.

The question presented is whether the parenthetical phrase “not to exceed 25 percent” means any amount up to 25 percent (as four circuits hold), or whether it means exactly 25 percent (as the Seventh Circuit holds).

Petitioner Charles Murphy was an inmate at Vandalia Correctional Center in Vandalia, Illinois. Murphy v. Smith, 844 F.3d 653, 655–56 (7th Cir. 2016). On July 25, 2011, Respondents Robert Smith and Gregory Fulk, both correctional officers, physically struck Murphy and then left him in a cell without medical assistance.

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