Since 2010, Simon v. Republic of Hungary has ascended and descended the judicial ladder as federal courts have considered how to interpret and apply the “expropriation exception” of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act...more
Sovereign immunity is a principle of public international law whereby one sovereign state should not seek to apply its law to another sovereign state. Alongside the jurisdictional immunity foreign sovereigns enjoy in the...more
Two recent decisions in the Madoff bankruptcy cases illustrate that the legacy of Bernie Madoff will long survive the man himself. Bernie Madoff died on April 14, 2021, while incarcerated in the Federal Medical Center in...more
On April 19, 2023, the United States Supreme Court issued a highly-anticipated decision in the case of Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S., aka Halkbank v. United States. The court ruled that Turkish state-owned Halkbank remained...more
The Court held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act ("FSIA") does not apply to criminal prosecutions, but left open the possibility that instrumentalities of foreign states may have common law immunity from prosecution....more
Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S., aka Halkbank v. United States. This groundbreaking case represents the first known attempt by the United States (or likely any state in modern...more
On April 19, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S., aka Halkbank v. United States, holding that the district court has jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. § 3231 over the prosecution of Halkbank and that the...more
On Jan. 17, a U.S. citizen brought a $110 million lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for damages caused by Curaçao and St. Maarten government actors. The basis for the suit, Ansary v. Central Bank...more
As we’ve previously written, complications arise for foreign sovereigns (States) and private companies when they structure commercial transactions. States prefer to hold as much of their immunities as is possible, while...more
On January 17, 2023 the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Türkiye Halk Bankasi A.Ş. v. United States. The resolution of Halkbank (as the bank is known) invites a sophisticated analysis of foreign sovereign immunity....more
This week, the Ninth Circuit examines whether private companies can count as foreign sovereigns for purposes of immunity, and when broad statements can plausibly be read to refer to specific individuals under Washington State...more
The Second Circuit recently held that a denial of a motion to dismiss a criminal indictment based on the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”) is immediately appealable under the collateral-order doctrine but concluded...more
Last month, in Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp, 141 S. Ct. 703 (2021), the United States Supreme Court revisited and narrowed the scope of the expropriation exception to sovereign immunity set forth in the Foreign...more
The Situation: On July 10, 2018, the D.C. Circuit held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act's ("FSIA") expropriation exception to sovereign immunity extended to a sovereign's taking of its own nationals' property in an...more
On February 3, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its anticipated decision in Germany v. Philipp, a case implicating the exception to foreign sovereign immunity for claims arising out of “property taken in violation of...more
On February 3, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp, No. 19–351, holding that the expropriation exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) does not apply to a domestic...more
Imagine your client, a real property owner, asks you to draft an enforceable agreement with the owner of the neighboring property. It seems relatively easy, right? Well, no, not if the neighboring property is owned by a...more
PATENT CASE OF THE WEEK - Genetic Veterinary Sciences, Inc. v. LABOKLIN GMBH & Co. KG, Appeal No. 2018-2056 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 9, 2019) - Our case of the week features a foreign University sued for declaratory judgment...more
GENETIC VETERINARY SCIENCES v. LABOKLIN GMBH & CO. KG - Before Wallach, Hughes, and Stoll. Appeal from the Eastern District of Virginia. Summary: (1) If a foreign entity is not subject to jurisdiction in any state’s...more
In order to minimize the risk of litigation arising from investments in the United States, sovereign wealth funds (“SWFs”) should take care to avoid inadvertent or unnecessary waiver of sovereign immunity–before they...more
FSIA "Commercial Activity" Exception Applies to Transportation of Submarine Loaned to Australian National Museum at Nominal Cost - Anderson Trucking Service, Inc. v. Eagle Underwriting Group, Inc., US District Court for...more
The U.S. Congress overturned a veto by President Obama allowing families of the victims of September 11 to sue Saudi Arabia in U.S. courts. While the U.S. domestic politics will be debated elsewhere (like everything else this...more
In a divided opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed a district court ruling that dismissed a case against the Czech Republic on jurisdictional grounds. The Appeals Court revived the case, finding the...more
Briefing has now been completed in CFPB v. Great Plains Lending, LLC, et al., the case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in which three tribally-affiliated payday lenders are challenging the CFPB’s...more
On December 6, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc, issued its decision in Sachs v. Republic of Austria, a case presenting important questions concerning the types of commercial activities...more