On June 5, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision requiring a plaintiff seeking to confirm an arbitration award against a foreign state to prove minimum contacts with the...more
To resolve longstanding confusion over the scope of foreign countries' sovereign immunity in U.S. courts, Congress in 1976 passed the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act ("FSIA"). The FSIA draws a bright line: "foreign states and...more
On June 5, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court in CC/Devas (Mauritius) Ltd., et al. v. Antrix Corp., et al., No. 23-1201 held that personal jurisdiction exists over a foreign entity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA)...more
On June 5, 2025, in a unanimous decision authored by Justice Alito, the United States Supreme Court held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (FSIA), 28 U.S.C. §§1330, 1602 et seq., does not require a plaintiff...more
On June 5, 2025, the Supreme Court issued its unanimous opinion in CC/Devas (Mauritius) Ltd. et al. v. Antrix Corp. Ltd. et al. (605 U.S. ___ (2025)), holding that personal jurisdiction exists over an enforcement action...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s denial of foreign sovereign immunity to a Chinese company accused of stealing trade secrets related to the production of proprietary metallurgy...more
On February 21, 2025, the US Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Republic of Hungary v. Simon, further narrowing the scope of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act's exception to sovereign immunity for expropriation...more
The Supreme Court of the United States issued three decisions today: Wisconsin Bell, Inc. v. United States, ex rel. Heath, No. 23-1127: This case considers whether reimbursement requests submitted to the Federal...more
On October 22, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit determined that common-law foreign sovereign immunity does not protect Halkbank, a commercial bank, majority-owned by Turkey, from criminal prosecution for...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled on January 9, 2024 that the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation in Madrid is the owner of Rue Saint–Honoré, après-midi, effect de pluie (1892) by Camille Pissarro, a...more
A significant number of states prohibit or restrict the arbitration of disputes between an insurer and its policyholder and/or preclude the inclusion of arbitral provisions in insurance policies.The McCarran-Ferguson Act...more
On October 3, 2022, in Commodities & Minerals Enterprise Ltd. v. CVG Ferrominera Orinoco, C. A., the Second Circuit Court of Appeals resolved a novel question of first impression in favor of petitioner Commodities & Minerals...more
On August 16, 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued its ruling in Estate of Jeremy Isadore Levine, et al. v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., No. 21-7036, –F.4th– (D.C. Circuit August 16, 2022), a case...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of a motion to dismiss an indictment, charging four Chinese companies with violations of the criminal provisions of the Economic Espionage Act...more
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States issued the following three decisions: Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp, No. 19-351: In this Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”) case, the respondents - heirs of...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a district court’s denial of a motion to dismiss a copyright infringement suit on the ground of sovereign immunity, holding that advertising activity in the United...more
A recent Supreme Court decision sets important precedent on the retroactive effect of legislation amending the law governing sovereign immunity in the United States. On May 18, 2020, the Supreme Court handed a victory to...more
The Supreme Court in Opati v. Republic of Sudan, No. 17–1268, 590 U.S. ___ (2020), has held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act ("FSIA") allows certain plaintiffs to recover punitive damages from state sponsors of...more
On May 18, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Opati v. Republic of Sudan, holding that plaintiffs who sue a foreign government under the state-sponsored-terrorism exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act can seek...more
Opati v. Republic of Sudan, No. 17-1268: Victims of a 1998 al Qaeda attack outside the United States Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania brought suit in federal court against the Republic of Sudan, alleging that Sudan had...more
The Appellate Division First Department in New York has affirmed the trial court’s ruling in Reif v. Nagy that the heirs of Viennese actor and Holocaust victim Franz Friedrich (Fritz) Grünbaum are entitled to the return of...more
No longer entitled to near absolute immunity, MDBs may be prompted to modify their charters, lending practices, and accountability mechanisms. Key Points: ..The Supreme Court reversed the D.C. Circuit’s ruling, holding...more
On March 26, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Republic of Sudan v. Harrison et al., No. 16-1094, holding that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (FSIA) requires a mailing to be sent directly to the foreign...more
On February 27, 2019, the Supreme Court held in Jam v. International Finance Corporation that international organizations may be subject to suit for their commercial activities. In order to appreciate the significance of this...more
On 27 February 2019, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) held that International Organisations do not have absolute immunity under the International Organizations Immunities Act of 1945 (IOIA). This blog discusses...more