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Peace Treaty Bars Third Parties
The peace treaty between Japan and the United States of America bars
not only law suits before American courts by Americans against Japan for wrongs suffered during World War II but also by third parties.
This is the result of the decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit in the matter Hwang Geum Joo et al. v. Japan, Minister Yohei Kono, Minister of Foreign Affairs, No. 01-7169, of June 28, 2005.
The U.S. government supported the decision with an amicus curiae brief.
The court held that the political solution of a peace treaty had exhausted the available avenues for redress of wrongs in the system of justice and left remaining issues in the political sphere which falls outside of the jurisdiction of the courts.
Relying on Ruhrgas AG v. Marathon Oil Co., 526 US 574 (1999), the court held that courts are free to address the political question issue for their jurisdictional analysis before turning to other jurisdictional issues such as the commercial activity exception to the immunity rules of the
Fri, / Embassy Law Link