Kelley Drye Defeats Novel $92 Million Claim Against Lucent

The U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey ruled that, under governing Saudi law, a Saudi company could not recover against Kelley Drye client Lucent for the value of one of its business units engaged in telecommunications construction projects in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Middle East. In addition to the magnitude of the $92 million claim, the opinion is unique because the court was required to interpret Saudi law, which is based on the Shari’a, the ​“divinely ordained pattern of human conduct,” a jurisprudence infused by the Islamic religion.