Institute in the Courts: Foreign Relations 4th Gains Attention

| November 18, 2021 | Inside The ALI, U.S. Foreign Relations Law

The Restatement of the Law Fourth, The Foreign Relations Law of the United States: Selected Topics in Treaties, Jurisdiction, and Sovereign Immunity, which was published in 2018, has been receiving significant attention in federal and state courts. The Restatement was recently cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp, 141 S. Ct. 703 (Feb. 3, 2021), which held that “the phrase ‘rights in property taken in violation of international law,’ as used in the FSIA’s [Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act’s] expropriation exception, refers to violations of the international law of expropriation and thereby incorporates the domestic takings rule,” such that foreign sovereigns retained immunity under the FSIA with respect to domestic takings of property from their own nationals, even when the takings constituted acts of genocide in violation of international human-rights law.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, writing for a unanimous Court, cited § 455, Reporters’ Note 15 of the Restatement, pointing out that the expropriation exception, which permitted the exercise of jurisdiction over some public acts of expropriation in a manner that was unique to the United States, went beyond the restrictive theory of sovereign immunity that the FSIA sought to codify, consistent with the United States’ long-standing efforts “to protect the property of its citizens abroad as part of a defense of America’s free enterprise system.” The Court explained that, despite this “nonconformity” of the FSIA to the restrictive theory, the Court “take[s] seriously the Act’s general effort to preserve a dichotomy between private and public acts.”

The Restatement has been cited in 46 other cases; they are:

U.S. Supreme Court:

    • Gamble v. United States, 139 S. Ct. 1960 (2019), citing § 481
    • Upper Skagit Indian Tribe v. Lundgren, 138 S. Ct. 1649 (2018), citing § 456(2) of T.D. No. 2 (2016), which is now § 456(2) of the Official Text
    • Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela v. Helmerich & Payne Int’l Drilling Co., 137 S. Ct. 1312 (2017), citing § 455, Reporters’ Note 12, of T.D. No. 2 (2016), which is now § 455, Reporters’ Note 15, of the Official Text

Federal Courts

    • Usoyan v. Republic of Turkey, 6 F.4th 31 (D.C. Cir. 2021), citing § 432(b) and Comment a thereto
    • Coan v. Dunne, 2021 WL 3012678 (D. Conn. July 15, 2021), citing § 490, Reporters’ Notes 3 and 4
    • Fund for Prot. of Inv. Rights in Foreign States Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782 for Order Granting Leave to Obtain Discovery for use in Foreign Proceeding v. AlixPartners, LLP, 5 F.4th 216 (2d Cir. 2021), citing § 458, Reporters’ Note 6
    • Beierwaltes v. L’Office Federale De La Culture De La Confederation Suisse, 999 F.3d 808 (2d Cir. 2021), citing § 455, Comment a
    • In re PT Bakrie Telecom Tbk, 628 B.R. 859 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2021), citing § 484, Comment d
    • Ingenico Inc. v. Ioengine, LLC, 2021 WL 765757 (D. Del. Feb. 26, 2021), citing § 426, Comment a
    • Earl v. Boeing Co., 515 F. Supp. 3d 590 (E.D. Tex. 2021), citing § 310, Comment b
    • United States v. Aybar-Ulloa, 987 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2021), citing § 402, Comment b and Reporters’ Note 2; § 407, Comment c; 408, Comments a and b and Reporters’ Note 3; and § 413, Reporters’ Note 1
    • Aguasvivas v. Pompeo, 984 F.3d 1047 (1st Cir. 2021), citing § 306(1)
    • El Bey v. Dominguez, 2020 WL 7658088 (N.D. Tex. Nov. 23, 2020), citing § 311(1)
    • Rodriguez v. Pan Am. Health Org., 502 F. Supp. 3d 200 (D.D.C. 2020), citing § 310, Comment b
    • Cayuga Indian Nation of N.Y. v. Seneca Cnty., 978 F.3d 829 (2d Cir. 2020), citing § 456, Reporters’ Note 2; and § 464, Reporters’ Note 1
    • Nahl v. Jaoude, 968 F.3d 173 (2d Cir. 2020), citing § 413
    • TIG Ins. Co. v. Republic of Argentina, 967 F.3d 778 (D.C. Cir. 2020), citing § 464, Comment c
    • Fulmen Co. v. Off. of Foreign Assets Control, 2020 WL 1536341 (D.D.C. Mar. 31, 2020), citing § 487, Comment d
    • Simon v. Republic of Hungary, 443 F. Supp. 3d 88 (D.D.C. 2020), citing § 455, Reporters’ Note 6
    • United States v. Garcia Sota, 948 F.3d 356 (D.C. Cir. 2020), citing § 412
    • In re del Valle Ruiz, 939 F.3d 520 (2d Cir. 2019), citing § 404, Comment a and Reporters’ Note 3
    • United States v. Park, 938 F.3d 354 (D.C. Cir. 2019), citing § 402(1)(c) and Comment g and Reporters’ Note 7 thereto
    • Mountain Crest SRL, LLC v. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, 937 F.3d 1067 (7th Cir. 2019), citing § 441, Reporters’ Notes 2 and 3
    • United States v. Dávila-Reyes, 937 F.3d 57 (1st Cir. 2019), citing § 409; § 412 and Comments a and b and Reporters’ Note 1 thereto; and § 413 and Reporters’ Note 1 thereto
    • Mulugeta v. Ademachew, 407 F. Supp. 3d 569 (E.D. Va. 2019), citing § 483, Comment b; and § 484, Comments e and j
    • Cont’l Transfert Tech., Ltd. v. Federal Government of Nigeria, 2019 WL 3562069 (D.D.C. Aug. 6, 2019), citing § 464, Reporters’ Note 8
    • In re Sealed Case, 932 F.3d 915 (D.C. Cir. 2019), citing § 442
    • United States v. Prado, 933 F.3d 121 (2d Cir. 2019), citing § 401; § 405, Comment a; and § 406, Comment a
    • Doe v. Mattis, 928 F.3d 1 (D.C. Cir. 2019), citing § 211 and Comments c and f thereto; § 213; and § 214 and Comment a thereto of T.D. No. 2 (2016), which are now § 407 and Comments c and f thereto; § 409; and § 410 and Comment a thereto of the Official Text
    • In re Grand Jury Investigation of Possible Violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1956 and 50 U.S.C. § 1705, 381 F. Supp. 3d 37 (D.D.C. 2019), citing § 426, Comment a
    • KT Corp. v. ABS Holdings, Ltd., 2018 WL 3364390 (S.D.N.Y. July 10, 2018), citing § 401 and Comment e thereto and § 404 of T.D. No. 1 (2014), which are now § 481 and Comment f thereto and § 484 of the Official Text
    • Philipp v. Federal Republic of Germany, 894 F.3d 406 (D.C. Cir. 2018), citing § 455, Reporters’ Note 9, of T.D. No. 2 (2016), which is now § 455, Reporters’ Note 11, of the Official Text
    • Doe v. Mattis, 889 F.3d 745 (D.C. Cir. 2018), citing § 211 and Comment f thereto; § 213; and § 214, Comment a, of T.D. No. 2 (2016), which are now § 407 and Comment f thereto; § 409; and § 410, Comment a, of the Official Text
    • Leidos, Inc. v. Hellenic Republic, 881 F.3d 213 (D.C. Cir. 2018), citing § 420 of T.D. No. 3 (2017), which is now § 490 of the Official Text
    • Simon v. Republic of Hungary, 277 F. Supp. 3d 42 (D.D.C. 2017), citing § 455, Reporters’ Note 7, of T.D. No. 2 (2016), which is now § 455, Reporters’ Note 6, of the Official Text
    • Republic of Marshall Islands v. United States, 865 F.3d 1187 (9th Cir. 2017), citing § 110 and Comment b thereto of T.D. No. 2 (2017), which are now § 310 and Comment b thereto of the Official Text
    • De Csepel v. Republic of Hungary, 859 F.3d 1094 (D.C. Cir. 2017), citing § 455 and Reporters’ Note 6 thereto of T.D. No. 2 (2016), which are now § 455 and Reporters’ Note 8 thereto of the Official Text
    • Jerez v. Republic of Cuba, 775 F.3d 419 (D.C. Cir. 2014), citing § 463, Reporters’ Note 2, of Preliminary Draft No. 2 (2014), which is now § 463, Reporters’ Notes 3 and 4, of the Official Text

State Courts:

    • Perry v. KLCC Holdings 1 Ltd., 489 P.3d 916 (table) (Nev. 2021), citing § 483, Reporters’ Note 8
    • Lathigee v. British Columbia Sec. Comm’n, 477 P.3d 352 (Nev. 2020), citing § 489, Comment d and Reporters’ Note 4
    • Ward v. United Airlines, Inc., 466 P.3d 309 (Cal. 2020), citing § 402
    • Jiménez v. Palacios, 250 A.3d 814 (Del. Ch. 2019), citing § 441, Comments a and b and Reporters’ Note 1
    • AlbaniaBEG Ambient Sh.p.k. v. Enel S.p.A., 160 A.D.3d 93 (N.Y. App. Div. 2018), citing § 402, Reporters’ Note 3, of T.D. No. 1 (2014), which is now § 482, Reporters’ Note 3, of the Official Text
    • JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. v. Herman, 168 A.3d 514 (Conn. App. Ct. 2017), citing § 302, Comment a, of T.D. No. 2 (2016), which is now § 422, Comment a, of the Official Text

Northern Mariana Islands Courts

    • Kim v. Park & Globuil Holdings, No. 15-0131-CV (N. Mar. I. Commw. Super. Ct. 2019), citing §§ 481, 483(a), 484(h), and 489

U.K. Courts

    • R (on the Application of The Freedom and Justice Party) v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, [2018] EWCA (Civ) 1719 (Eng. & Wales) (July 19, 2018), citing generally

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Megan Dingley

The American Law Institute

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