Foreign Sovereign Immunity: India, Venezuela, BIT, expropriation
On October 3, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit released two noteworthy decisions:
Helmerich & Payne Internationale Drilling Co. v. Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. on alter ego in the context of foreign expropriations and the domestic recourse under theories and law of sovereign immunity and exceptions thereto;
and
Deutsche Telekom AG v. Republic of India on the recognition and enforcement of a Swiss arbitral award in the United States under a bilateral investment treaty after an investment made by the company, and subsequently by the Republic, in an Indian enterprise, triggering the issue of the extension of an arbitration clause to the Republic under the U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and its exceptions.
Sun, / Embassy Law Link