WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) released the following statements after their Protecting Americans from Russian Litigation Act, which would protect American companies who have been unfairly targeted in foreign jurisdictions, particularly Russian courts, for their good faith compliance with U.S. sanctions and export controls following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee:

“American companies who rightfully stopped doing business in Russia following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine should not be punished or subjected to Russian lawfare,” said Sen. Cornyn. “This legislation would close a legal loophole that has been abused by Russian courts to unfairly target American businesses for complying with U.S. sanctions meant to weaken Putin’s war regime and ensure our corporations are not held liable for Russia’s actions.”

“As Putin continues his war on Ukraine, we cannot let Russia exploit American courts for retaliatory lawsuits against companies complying with U.S. sanctions and export controls,” said Sen. Padilla. “Whether it’s Russia today or another foreign adversary tomorrow, shielding American companies from legal harassment at home and abroad is a commonsense, bipartisan priority that defends our national security and protects the effectiveness of our sanctions regime. Today’s committee passage is an important first step, and I will keep working with Senator Cornyn to ensure this fix becomes law.”

Background:

In response to Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the United States imposed sanctions and export controls on Russia. Acting in good faith, U.S. companies wound down their operations and ceased work in Russia to comply with these measures. As a result, numerous suits have been brought against U.S. companies in Russian courts, with some facing hundreds of millions of dollars in potential damages. Russia has sought to enforce these judgments in other jurisdictions.

U.S. law currently provides no protections for enforcements of these types of foreign judgments. Under current law, Russian litigants can use these Russian court decisions as the basis to sue American companies in U.S. federal court or in international courts of arbitration.

This legislation would protect American businesses by closing the loophole in federal law that allows enforcement of foreign judgments, effectively ending Russian lawfare on American businesses.