Court Opinion

ID: 1036334
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-08-02 19:12:12.19707+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:21:58.567696
License: Public Domain

Case: 13-1435          Document: 6          Page: 1        Filed: 08/02/2013

              NOTE: This order is nonprecedential.

   United States Court of Appeals
       for the Federal Circuit
                    __________________________

                         ELENA STURDZA,
                         Plaintiff-Appellant,
                                       v.
                   UNITED ARAB EMIRATES,
                       Defendant-Appellee.
                    __________________________

                            2013-1435
                    __________________________

    Appeal from the United States District Court for the
District of Columbia in case no. 98-CV-2051, Judge
Barbara J. Rothstein.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         ELENA STURDZA,
                         Plaintiff-Appellant,
                                       v.
     UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, ANGELOS
  DEMETRIOU & ASSOCIATES, SZYMKOWICZ &
     ASSOCIATES, JOHN T. SZYMKOWICZ,
     MOHAMMED MATTAR, ROBERTS AND
 BROWNELL, THOMAS BROWNELL, MARK LANE,
 STEVEN TEPPLER, JOHN C. LAPRADE, FRAZIER
    WALTON, JR., COVINGTON & BURLING,
 ANTHONY HERMAN, RON DOVE, MINTZ, LEVIN,
Case: 13-1435     Document: 6       Page: 2   Filed: 08/02/2013

STURDZA   v. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES                           2

COHEN, FERRIS, GLOVSKY & POPEO, P.C., DAVID
 T. SHAPIRO, LEWIN & LEWIN, NATHAN LEWIN,
ALYZA D. LEWIN, MORRISON ARCHITECTS, ERIC
     MORRISON, AND VASILIOS DEMETRIOU,
     Personal Representative of the Estate of
             Angelos C. Demetriou,
                  Defendants.
                __________________________

                        2013-1453
                __________________________

    Appeal from the United States District Court for the
District of Columbia in No. 08-CV-1642, Judge Barbara
J. Rothstein.
               __________________________

                        PER CURIAM.
                         ORDER
   The court considers whether these recently docketed
appeals should be dismissed.
    Elena Sturdza purports to appeal from two judgments
of the United States District Court for the District of
Columbia, in related cases involving charges of copyright
infringement. In both cases, a guardian ad litem has been
appointed by the district court to conduct this litigation
on behalf of Ms. Sturdza. It also appears that proceedings
before the district court remain pending.
     This court is a court of limited jurisdiction, which does
not include jurisdiction in these copyright infringement
matters. 28 U.S.C. § 1295. Although this court is author-
ized to transfer a case pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1631 “if it
is in the interest of justice,” because Ms. Sturdza purport-
ed to appeal without the knowledge and authorization of
her guardian ad litem, we cannot say that it would be
Case: 13-1435        Document: 6   Page: 3      Filed: 08/02/2013

3                            STURDZA   v. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

proper to do so here. See generally Thomas v. Humfield,
916 F.2d 1032, 1034 (5th Cir. 1990) (“The appointment of
a guardian ad litem deprives the litigant of the right to
control the litigation. . . .”).
      Accordingly,
      IT IS ORDERED THAT:
      (1) The appeals are dismissed.
      (2) Each side shall bear its own costs.
      (3) All pending motions are moot.

                                       FOR THE COURT

                                       /s/ Daniel E. O’Toole
                                       Daniel E. O’Toole
                                       Clerk
s28