Do Not Resuscitate
No relief for a Canadian funeral operator buried by a Mississippi trial verdict.
The American Lawyer
August 01, 2009
The Loewen Group Inc., a Canadian funeral home giant, was the first North American business to bring an investor-state claim against the U.S. government. Loewen filed its complaint in 1998 after it was hit with a $500 million jury verdict in a Mississippi state trial. The NAFTA arbitration panel excoriated the Mississippi legal system and declared the trial a "disgrace" lacking in due process. However, the panel concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the NAFTA claim because Loewen had filed for bankruptcy and restructured itself so that its assets were held by a U.S. corporation. Thus, the panel ruled, the company had lost its standing to sue the U.S. government as a foreign investor. Many observers have questioned the tribunal's insistence that claimants must maintain "continuous nationality" through the course of a case, and have speculated that the arbitrators wanted to avoid passing judgment on the U.S. jury trial system.
The Loewen Group Inc. and Raymond Loewen v. United States, decided June 2003
For claimant The Loewen Group Inc. (Vancouver): Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker For claimant Raymond Loewen (Vancouver): Fasken Martineau DuMoulin • Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads For respondent United States: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Legal Adviser
