In separate amicus briefs filed in the U.S. Supreme Court, a group of prominent civil procedure law professors and the Association of Transportation Law Professionals urged the Supreme Court to grant CCL's petition for a writ of certiorari in Douglass v. NYK Line

     The case raises an important and unanswered question about personal jurisdiction when Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(k)(2) is raised, as well as under admiralty law. The case arose from a collision of a container ship with the U.S.S. Fitzgerald, a destroyer, in Japanese territorial waters, that resulted in the death of seven U.S. sailors and injuries to more than 40 others. 

     The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, hearing the case en banc, ruled 12-5 that the case could not be heard in the United States. CCL has argued that the ruling effectively renders Rule 4(k)(2), promulgated at the request of the Supreme Court and approved by Congress, unconstitutional, while also turning the courts' back on traditional admiralty jurisdiction.

     NYK Line, the defendant, will file a brief in opposition to certiorari in 30 days, after which CCL is entitled to file a reply brief, before the Supreme Court votes on the case.