The Supreme Court recently confirmed in a unanimous decision the requirements for personal jurisdiction over foreign states when parties seek to confirm international arbitration awards, but important questions remain. In...more
In a unanimous decision on June 5, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned a Ninth Circuit decision declining to enforce a US$ 1.3 billion arbitral award issued to Devas Multimedia Private Ltd. ("Devas"), an...more
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 Supreme Court of the United States issued six decisions today: Ames v. Ohio Dept. of Youth Services, No. 23-1039: This case addresses whether majority-group plaintiffs are held to a heighted evidentiary standard in...more
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
In Samantar v. Yousuf, the US Supreme Court held that foreign officials, when sued in their individual capacity, are subject to immunity under a similar, but different set of rules that govern lawsuits against foreign states....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 doctrine of sovereign immunity is a foundational element of the interplay between a governmental investor’s contractual obligation to satisfy capital calls and a fund’s or lender’s ability to enforce that obligation...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
(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
In the United States, unlike in many civil law jurisdictions, the federal courts are vested with broad civil subpoena power. That power, however, is limited by the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), 28 U.S.C. §§...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
The Supreme Court of the United States issued decisions in two cases today: Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela v. Helmerich & Payne Int’l Drilling Co., No. 15-423: Respondent companies brought suit in federal court against...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
On June 16, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two decisions in Republic of Argentina v. NML Capital, Ltd., one of the many cases to have arisen out of Argentina’s 2001 default on over $100 billion in sovereign bonds. While...more
On June 16, 2014, the United States Supreme Court held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) does not prevent a judgment creditor from conducting postjudgment discovery into a foreign sovereign's assets outside the...more
In its latest decision interpreting the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), the Supreme Court made clear that any claim of immunity by a foreign state must rise or fall based on the text of the FSIA. Because the FSIA...more