Court Opinion

ID: 1036333
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-08-02 19:12:11.528751+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:45:48.357537
License: Public Domain

Case: 13-1453          Document: 11           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               NOTE: This order is nonprecedential.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: 13-1453     Document: 11       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: 13-1453         Document: 11   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