The Court held that the personal jurisdiction analysis under the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause differs from that under the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause. The personal jurisdiction provisions of the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act of 2019 (PSJVTA) do not violate the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause because the statute reasonably ties the assertion of jurisdiction to conduct involving the United States and implicating sensitive foreign policy matters within the prerogative of the political branches.
Further Thoughts on Personal Jurisdiction for Helms-Burton Act Claims
Last week, Bill Dodge reported on the Eleventh Circuit’s recent decision in Rodriguez v. Imperial Brands, PLC, in which the court dismissed Helms-Burton Act claims against two British defendants for lack of personal jurisdiction. Bill critiqued the court’s application of Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization (2025), but not the decision’s ultimate outcome. The difficulty with…
Continue ReadingEleventh Circuit Applies Fuld in Helms-Burton Case
On July 23, 2026, in Rodriguez v. Imperial Brands, PLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit upheld the dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction of claims against two British corporations under the Helms-Burton Act for trafficking in property expropriated by Cuba. The opinion is one of the first by a circuit court…
Continue ReadingThe Good and the Bad of King v. Bon Charge
The Supreme Court’s latest personal jurisdiction decision, Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization (2025), left the lower courts to work out what exactly the Fifth Amendment due process analysis entails. The emerging consensus is that those questions can be avoided as long as the facts of a case meet the preexisting test for personal jurisdiction under…
Continue ReadingPersonal Jurisdiction in Federal Antitrust Litigation Post-Fuld: In re Diisocyanates Litigation
Last year, in Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization, the Supreme Court held that the due process limits of personal jurisdiction under the Fifth Amendment differ from those under the Fourteenth. As Maggie Gardner has noted, the Court didn’t say much about what those limits might be—meaning that the lower federal courts will now take on…
Continue ReadingEnforcement of Arbitral Awards against Russia for Expropriation of Property in Crimea
The D.C. Circuit recently cleared the way for the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards against Russia for the expropriation of electricity and gas infrastructure in Crimea. Russia argued in the case, Stabil v. Russian Federation, that there was no jurisdiction because the arbitration exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) did not apply and…
Continue ReadingCert Grant in Climate Case
The Supreme Court has added a climate case to its docket. In Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, local governments sued fossil fuel companies in Colorado state court to recover for damages they sustained as a result of climate change. The complaint includes claims for public and private nuisance, civil conspiracy, unjust…
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