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Expropriated Bank Accounts Not FSIA-Owned
On June 22, 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit confirmed in Hiwot Nemariam et al. v. Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia et al., docket number 05-7178, the dismissal of a class action complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
In examining the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act with respect to the government-operated central bank of Ethiopia, the court held the plaintiffs to have failed in showing that the central bank owned or operated bank accounts seized from expelled Eritrean plaintiffs during a conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. In addition, the plaintiffs failed to meet the rights in property requirements of 28 USC §1605(a)(3) for their unlawful takings claim against the republic and the bank.
The decision follows extensive jurisdictional discovery under the FSIA and a prior path to the D.C. circuit court which in 2003 reversed a dismissal on the basis of forum non conveniens, Nemariam v. Fed. Dem. Pub. of Ethiopia, 315 F.3d 390 (DC Cir. 2003). -- Clemens Kochinke, Berliner, Corcoran & Rowe, LLP, Washington.
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