On July 26, 2013, the French government filed an amicus curiae
("friend of the court") brief supporting Argentina's
petition requesting the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling
handed down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on
October 26, 2012 (see NML Capital, Ltd. v. Republic of Argentina,
699 F.3d 246 (2d Cir. 2012)) upholding a lower-court order
enjoining Argentina from making payments on restructured defaulted
debt without making comparable payments to holdout bondholders. The
protracted legal saga arising from Argentina's $100 billion
default in 2001 has come to involve the International Monetary Fund
(the "IMF"), the U.S. and, now, France, due to its
implications for future sovereign-debt restructurings. In its
amicus brief, France argues, among other things, that: (i) the
Second Circuit's ruling deviates from fundamental tenets of
equity jurisprudence; and (ii) the Second Circuit's decision
threatens wider public interests. The IMF recently backed away from
a plan to support Argentina's appeal after U.S. Treasury
officials counseled that it was not the right time for the fund to
get involved in the case. The Supreme Court will not decide until
this fall whether to hear Argentina's appeal.
A copy of the amicus brief can be accessed at http://www.scribd.com/doc/156852371/NML-2013-07-26-France-Amicus-Brief.
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