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Jordan Avoids Immunity Issue
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed in Ahmad Chalabi, et al. v. Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, et al., docket number 07-7141, the dismissal of an action by a Jordanian bussinesman who sued Jordan under the RICO statute and for common law torts for the unlawful seizure of his bank in 1989.
The seizure caused the ruin of the bank and its American subsidiary. Seeking compensation, Chalabi alleged jurisdiction over Jordan under 28 USC §1605, which is the commercial activity exception of the FSIA.
The District Court had dismissed the claims as untimely, bypassing the question of subject-matter jurisdiction under the FSIA. This, it held, concurred with a recent Supreme Court decision, granting courts leeway to choose among threshold grounds for denying the review on a case on the merits. Because a final settlement of the immunity question would require further jurisdictional discovery, the court found judicial economy better served by dismissal on timeliness grounds.
The appellate court concurred the dismissal of the claims as untimely and bypassing the issue of immunity are proper. It determined timeliness as having both, threshold and merits characteristics. The October 24, 2008 decision illustrates the power of American courts to dismiss claims against foreign sovereigns without finally adressing their immunity. -- Axel Knabe, international fellow, Berliner, Corcoran & Rowe, LLP, Washington DC.
Wed, / Embassy Law Link