I am proud to announce the publication in the Chapman Law Review of my article: “Turnabout is Foul Play: Sovereign Immunity and Cultural Property Claims”. As the article explains, the Roberts Court has contorted beyond...more
On February 21, 2025, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Republic of Hungary v. Simon, holding that allegations of commingling of funds alone cannot satisfy the US commercial nexus requirement of the expropriation...more
In 2024, U.S. courts issued consequential decisions in cases brought against foreign states and their agencies and instrumentalities under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”). This alert summarizes key decisions in...more
Key Takeaways: The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that a party cannot establish the U.S. commercial nexus required to invoke the FSIA’s expropriation exception by alleging a foreign state expropriated property in...more
Last week, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Republic of Hungary v. Simon, a case concerning the scope of immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act’s (FSIA) expropriation exception....more
On February 21, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Republic of Hungary v. Simon, holding that the commercial nexus requirement of the expropriation exception to the Federal Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (FISA) — which is...more
On December 3, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Hungary v. Simon. As discussed in a previous client alert, the case concerns whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit correctly allowed...more
On December 3, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in Republic of Hungary v. Simon. The case involves Hungary’s theft of valuable items from Jewish families during the Holocaust. The plaintiffs sued the Republic of...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently dismissed a long-running dispute against Russia concerning the library of the Lubavitcher Rebbe (the Library), a collection of books and papers once held by the...more
After it became clear that they would lose World War II, Nazi Germany and Hungary raced to complete their eradication of the Jews before the Axis surrendered. The Axis powers wiped out more than two-thirds of Hungary’s...more
(WASHINGTON-October 22, 2020) The heirs to the Jewish art dealers who were forced to sell the medieval devotional art collection known as the Welfenschatz (in English, the Guelph Treasure) to agents of Hermann Goering in 1935...more
Nestlé USA, Inc. v. Doe I, No. 19-416; Cargill, Inc. v. Doe I, No. 19-453: 1) Whether an aiding and abetting claim against a domestic corporation brought under the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. §1350, may overcome the...more
The Situation: A group of South African mining investors attempted to revive an investment treaty award by which the Kingdom of Lesotho was held liable for its role in disbanding the Tribunal of the Southern African...more
A federal appeals court has upheld the growing consensus that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) confers jurisdiction over foreign state actors in possession of art allegedly looted by and/or overseen by the Nazis....more
On Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its opinion in Venezuela v. Helmerich & Payne, a dispute over the proper pleading standards for parties suing foreign governments in U.S. courts. The decision was an...more
Despite recent criticism from some quarters concerning the use of investment treaties and free trade agreements, the Chinese investment treaty system remains firmly in place. Since 1982, the People's Republic of China (PRC)...more
In a case that highlights both that governments are not above the rule of law and that it is difficult to swiftly enforce arbitral awards, a Swedish appeals court, on December 12, 2016, upheld a $506 million award against...more
The District Court of the Hague overturned a record $50 billion in damages awards issued by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (“PCA”), to the former controlling shareholders of the Yukos Oil Company on the grounds that...more