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82 Harv. L. Rec. 1 (1986)

handle is hein.journals/hlrec82 and id is 1 raw text is: Americas Ulaest Law ziCflOOt vewspaper
FEBRUARY 7, 1986

25 CENTS

Fisher Takes Part In International Mediation

By David Snouffer
After two recent trips to South
Africa as part of an international
mediation effort, an HLS expert on
negotiation says there is at least a
2 percent chance that the project
can help the strife-torn country
avoid an outright race war by help-
ing the white-dominated govern-
ment and its black nationalist op-
ponents gain a fuller appreciation
for each other's views.
Professor Roger Fisher, who holds
HLS's Samuel Williston chair, vis-
ited South Africa briefly in Decem-
ber and then again for 10 more days
last month in an effort by a Swiss-
based organization to help the
country's various political, religious
and business leaders generate new
ideas that the group hopes will help
move the country toward construc-
tive change.
While the positions that gov-
ernment politicians and black na-
tionalist leaders advocate publicly
might appear irreconcilable, their
underlying interests actually are
more compatible, Fisher said in
an interview this week. Government
and opposition leaders have been
unable to identify common ground,
however, because both justifiably
fear that their constitutents will
desert them if they appear to be
conceding too much to the other
side, Fisher added.
For example, he said, black lead-
ers' demands for a one-man, one-
vote electoral system cause many
whites to fear that the country's
black majority would dominate its
political system if their leaders
make too many concessions to op-
(Continued on Page 6)

Prof. Roger Fisher      INS Yena k
Miller Argues Bhopal Venue

By Brian D. Rance
Over the past few weeks, Profes-
sor Arthur R. Miller has assisted
plaintiffs in two highly-publicized
suits. In the first, Miller argued an
appeal before the Third Circuit on
behalf of a class of school districts
from across the country seeking to
recover asbestos removal costs from
asbestos manufacturers. In the sec-
ond suit, Miller offered advice to a
member of the plaintiffs' manage-
ment committee in the Bhopal toxic
gas discharge action against Union
Carbide.
In the latter suit, Union Carbide
moved to dismiss the action brought
by the victims of the Bhopal disaster
in the Federal District Court for
the Southern District of New York
on the ground that the United
States is an inconvenient forum for
Union Carbide to defend against the

plaintiffs' allegations. Carbide ar-
gued, along the lines of a recent
Supreme Court case, Piper Aircraft
Co. v. Reyno, 454 U.S. 235 (1981),
that the presence in India of wit-
nesses and evidence documenting
the damages caused by the release
of methyl isocyanate dictates that
Carbide should be able to defend
against the plaintiffs' action in an
Indian court.
Distinguishing Bhopal
Miller was retained to offer expert
advice on how to distinguish the
Bhopal suit from Piper. Miller noted
that, in contrast to the facts of Piper,
in the Bhopal action most of the
significant evidence on liability,
such as evidence on whether the
American parent company con-
trolled the operations of its Indian
(Continued on Page 9)

186 BY THE HARVARD LAW SCHOOL RECORD CORPORATION

VOL. 82, NO. 1

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