Foreign States, Personal Jurisdiction, and the FSIA
A U.S. gas company has sued four Russian defendants in the Southern District of New York for seizing helium containers that the gas company had sent to Russia pursuant to a helium supply contract. One of the defendants, RusChemAlliance (RCA), moved to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The case is unusual because the plaintiff…
Continue ReadingD.C. Circuit Remands Helms-Burton Case Against Cimex
Exxon (then Standard Oil) owned several subsidiaries in Cuba that were expropriated without compensation by the Cuban government in 1960. In 1996, Congress enacted the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act (CLDS), which permits suits by U.S. plaintiffs against those who traffic in property confiscated by the Cuban government. Exxon has sued Cuban state-owned companies…
Continue ReadingD.C. Circuit Limits Jurisdiction over Foreign States in Breach of Contract Claims
Circuit courts have split on the issue of what is required for a breach of contract to have a “direct effect” in the United States for the purposes of the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act (FSIA) (a primer on foreign sovereign immunity is available here). Rulings in the Seventh and Eleventh Circuits impose a “place of…
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