A few weeks ago, Joel posted about how Airbus has filed a motion in DC Superior Court to enjoin Wilmer Hale and Marco Bronckers from representing Boeing in the WTO aircraft disputes, in light of Bronckers' earlier work for Airbus. Airbus later challenged Charlene Barshefsky's role in the case as well.
According to a news report, Judge Braman of the DC Superior Court has now ruled as follows:
At this month's hearing, Braman dismissed the complaint against Barshefsky. He said Airbus didn't have standing to complain about her involvement with Boeing in D.C. Court because the court isn't handling any other aspect of the trade battle.With respect to Bronckers, Braman said he could not consider the complaint unless the WTO rules on whether it will consider pre-1992 aid in the trade battle. Bronckers stopped working for Airbus before the U.S. and Europe reached a 1992 agreement on civil aircraft subsidies that was in force until the latest round of trade litigation began.If the WTO case is limited to post-1992 government aid, those limits also should apply to questions about legal counsel, Braman said. That would make any premature rulings on Bronckers "an instrument of injustice," Braman said, according to a transcript of the hearing.
I'm not quite sure I follow the court's reasoning on the Barshefsky issue as set out in the news report. I'll update this post if other news reports clarify it, or if I can get hold of the opinion.
As for whether the issue would be raised before the WTO panels, Airbus had this to say:
Airbus said it is considering its options for how to proceed. The company could choose to ask the E.U. to bring up its complaint about Barshefsky at the WTO, although Boeing's choice of counsel has so far not been a topic of debate between U.S. and E.U. negotiators.