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More Immunities Litigation
In addition to enforcement actions against Libya under the recently-amended Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, new actions against Iran and others also seek the enforcement of judgments against nations considered sponsors of terror. The targets are not always American companies.
A new filing in San Francisco dated April 25, 2008 seeks assignments involving landing rights in Iran that numerous foreign airlines, such as Aeroflot, Lufthansa and Syrian Airlines, obtained, Deborah D. Peterson et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran et al., docket number 3:08-mc-80030-JSW.
Similar actions are pending in Texas and Oklahoma. A March 3, 2008 Memorandum Order in Katherine Harris et al. v. Socialist People's Lybian Arab Jamahirya et al., docket number 06-732, in the United States District Court for the District Court of Columbia deflated certain defense arguments and recognizes that the January 2008 revisions of the FSIA permit amended complaints as a matter of right.
An interesting issue will be the immunities in matters involving third party nations holding property owned by states subject to reduced immunities, including properties held by the United States as a result of certain sanctions against foreign states. International inter-state transactions will require additional planning regardless of where in the world they occur. -- Clemens Kochinke, Berliner, Corcoran & Rowe, LLP, Washington.
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