A federal judge in San Francisco has refused to relinquish US jurisdiction in a dispute over ownership of a collection of historic documents belonging to two late Republic of China leaders, Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正) and his son Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), the US-based Courthouse News Service reported on Thursday.
The documents, which include the personal diaries of the two Chiangs, were loaned to Stanford University in 2004 by Chiang Ching-kuo’s daughter-in-law, Chiang Fang Chih-yi (蔣方智怡).
Academia Historica and eight descendants of the two Chiangs have claimed rights to the papers.
In 2013, Stanford filed an interpleader action to protect itself from any lawsuit or liability over disputed claims of ownership of the papers.
However, Academia Historica and Chiang Ching-kuo’s son John Chiang (蔣孝嚴) filed a motion for forum non conveniens to dismiss Stanford’s lawsuit, claiming that a Taiwanese court is the proper place to determine ownership of the papers, not the US.
Stanford argued that Taiwan has no procedure for interpleader actions and therefore cannot guarantee the university protection from liability.
Agreeing with the university, US District Judge Beth Labson Freeman wrote in a ruling on Wednesday that “the undisputed fact that Taiwanese law does not have a mechanism for interpleader actions deprives Stanford of any practical remedy in a Taiwanese court.”
However, the judge also conceded that Taiwanese laws regarding inheritance rights and historical preservation apply to the disputed claims and they should be litigated overseas.
Freeman denied Standford’s request to strike evidence submitted by Academia Historica concerning Taiwanese laws, particularly the Presidential and Vice Presidential Records and Artifacts Act (總統副總統文物管理條例) of 2004.
The judge identified two crucial issues that must be addressed to determine ownership — the rights of the descendants under Taiwanese inheritance law and the portion of papers that are considered “official documents” under the act.
“The only disputed issue among the parties that have appeared in this action may be whether the diaries in the deposit are personal property or ‘official documents’ under Taiwanese law,” Freeman said.
She agreed to freeze further proceedings in the lawsuit for 90 days to give the defendants a chance to file an appropriate lawsuit in Taiwan.
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