In its Memorandum of Law, the HRB requests that the court deny the cross-motion to stay Sri Lanka wants, whereas, for decades, courts in the respective District have denied stay orders to defaulting sovereign debtors.

The amicus brief of two other creditors, the Republic of France and the United Kingdom, filed in support of Sri Lanka, helps a stay request on the basis that entering judgment now could impede Sri Lanka’s voluntary debt restructuring with other creditors.

But disagreeing with the amicus brief and stay request, the plaintiff held “the arguments remain wholly speculative, and fail to make out a clear case of hardship or inequity in being required to go forward.”