Day on Torts
The death of Natalee Holloway is a tragedy in every sense of the word. It is a tragedy compounded by screaming skulls (as opposed to talking heads) like Nancy Grace, a pseudo-journalist who has successfully managed to purge any gray matter she might have of anything she was supposed to learn in law school about the Bill of Rights. Nancy Grace is a poster child for what is wrong with cable “news” shows.
Back to Natalee. Her parents have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Joran Van Der Sloot and Paulus Van Der Sloot. Under the law in every state, they certainly have a right to do so, i.e. they have a right to prove in the civil justice system what the criminal justice system has not been able to prove.
The Van Der Sloots have been sued in New York. Natalee’s parents are asking Alabama law to apply to that case.
Problem: Natalee went missing in Aruba. As in country, not LA (Lower Alabama) hamlet. Joran allegedly was a citizen of the Netherlands at the time. (Once again, the “Netherlands” in not LA or Mississippi – it is a country. With liberal drug laws. Across the ocean. A long way away.) Joran and Palus were allegedly residents of Aruba.
The Van Der Sloots have filed a motion to dismiss the case for forum non conveniens. Surprise: they think the case should be filed in Aruba.
You can read the motion and the original complaint here.
Thanks to Appellate Law & Practice for alerting me to these documents.