WASHINGTON (AFX) - A District of Columbia Superior Court judge has shelved efforts by Airbus to disqualify Boeing Co. lawyers from working on a contentious trade dispute.
Airbus had filed a complaint against Boeing's use of the Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP law firm on WTO-related work. The complaint said Boeing would have an unfair advantage because Wilmer Hale employs former U.S. Trade Rep. Charlene Barshefsky and a former Airbus in-house lawyer named Marco Bronckers, now a partner in Wilmer Hale's Brussels office.
Boeing and Airbus are the subject of a long-running trade dispute over civil aircraft subsidies, currently the subject of dueling U.S. and European Union WTO cases. Litigation is underway and could reach a conclusion late next year if the two sides do not negotiate a settlement by then.
The U.S. wants Europe to stop giving subsidized development loans as launch aid to Airbus. Europe has countered that the U.S. should acknowledge and curtail tax breaks, research contracts and other government aid to Boeing.
Judge Leonard Braman threw out half of the Airbus complaint at an Aug. 17 hearing. He put the other half on hold, pending developments in World Trade Organization litigation.
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.
Boeing and Wilmer Hale declined to comment on the judge's decision.
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.
Airbus spokesman Clay McConnell said Airbus was encouraged by the developments in the Bronckers complaint. "We interpret the court's staying of the Bronckers component as indicating that the U.S. side can choose to pursue pre-'92 supports as part of the case, or to continue to use Wilmer Hale, but not both," McConnell said.
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