Source: https://openjurist.org/647/f2d/330
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 10:16:14+00:00

Document:
Abram Chayes, Cambridge, Mass. (Berthold H. Hoeniger, New York City, of counsel), for plaintiff-appellee.
James G. Simms, New York City (Craig P. Murphy, Peter J. Dranginis, Jr., Kissam, Halpin & Genovese, New York City, of counsel), for defendants-appellants.
This case is one of seven involving the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 ("FSIA"), 28 U.S.C. § 1330, heard together on appeal and decided in concert today.1 Six of the seven cases arise from massive purchases of cement by the Nigerian government in 1975. This is one of those six.
Reale International, Inc., filed suit against the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Central Bank of Nigeria on January 4, 1978, in the Southern District of New York. Reale's complaint claimed jurisdiction under the FSIA, and it set forth causes of action arising out of defendants' alleged anticipatory breaches, in 1975, of a contract for the sale of cement and of a related letter of credit. The case was assigned to Judge Haight.
On May 16, 1978, before the district court made any findings whatsoever, indeed, before defendants even answered the complaint, the parties entered into a stipulation. It stated that Nigeria and Central Bank had been named as defendants in three suits then before Judge Pierce, that they had moved to dismiss those suits for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under the FSIA, and that they planned to make a similar motion before Judge Haight.2 Accordingly, the parties stipulated, the jurisdictional decision in the three actions before Judge Pierce would, in addition, determine the existence of jurisdiction in the suit before Judge Haight.
On August 18, 1980, Judge Pierce found that jurisdiction was present in all three cases.3 Defendants before Judge Haight then moved, in spite of the executed stipulation, to dismiss. Judge Haight saw "no reason for abrogating (the) agreement," and denied defendants' motion. At that point, rather than proceeding to trial, Judge Haight certified for interlocutory appeal his order denying the motion. We grant leave to appeal,4 and proceed to the propriety of Judge Haight's order.
Graven in stone is the maxim that parties cannot confer jurisdiction on a federal court by consent or stipulation. California v. LaRue, 409 U.S. 109, 112 n.3, 93 S.Ct. 390, 394 n.3, 34 L.Ed.2d 342 (1972); American Fire & Casualty Co. v. Finn, 341 U.S. 6, 17-18, 71 S.Ct. 534, 541-542, 95 L.Ed. 702 (1951); A. H. Emery Co. v. Marcan Products Corp., 268 F.Supp. 289, 292 (S.D.N.Y.1967), aff'd, 389 F.2d 11 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 835, 89 S.Ct. 109, 21 L.Ed.2d 106 (1968). Behind this truism stands the federalist ethos against expanding the judicial power of the federal courts beyond what the Framers intended or Congress enacted. See Turner v. Bank of North America, 4 U.S. (4 Dall.) 7, 11, 1 L.Ed. 718 (1799). The proscription is enforced with draconian zeal. See, e. g., King Bridge Co. v. Otoe County, 120 U.S. 225, 226, 7 S.Ct. 552, 553, 30 L.Ed. 623 (1887), citing Mansfield, Coldwater & Lake Michigan Railway Co. v. Swan, 111 U.S. 379, 382, 4 S.Ct. 510, 511, 28 L.Ed. 462 (1884).
The order denying the motion to dismiss is vacated, and the case is remanded to the district court for a proper jurisdictional determination under the FSIA. If the circumstances of this suit are in fact similar to those in the three cases decided by Judge Pierce and affirmed by us today,6 then Judge Haight, on remand, should find jurisdiction present. We hold here only that the decision is his, not the parties'.

References: § 1330
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