Source: http://openjurist.org/269/f3d/133
Timestamp: 2014-04-19 13:15:10
Document Index: 551298746

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1331', '§ 1330', '§ 1605', '§ 1605', '§ 1330', '§ 1604', '§ 1330', '§ 1330', '§ 1605']

269 F3d 133 Justin Robinson v. The Government of Malaysia | OpenJurist
269 F. 3d 133 - Justin Robinson v. The Government of Malaysia	Home269 f3d 133 justin robinson v. the government of malaysia
269 F3d 133 Justin Robinson v. The Government of Malaysia 269 F.3d 133 (2nd Cir. 2001)
JUSTIN ROBINSON, PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT,v.THE GOVERNMENT OF MALAYSIA, DEFENDANT-THIRD-PARTY-PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE,WALSH FLOORS, INC., & GENERAL ASSURANCE COMPANY, THIRD-PARTY-DEFENDANT-CROSS-CLAIMANT-APPELLEES,E.W. HOWELL CO., INC. THIRD-PARTY-PLAINTIFF-DEFENDANT-APPELLEE.
Docket No. 00-7730August Term, 2000
Argued: January 2, 2001Decided: October 11, 2001
Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Constance Baker Motley, Judge) dismissing the plaintiff's complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. We affirm on the ground that the plaintiff failed either to allege facts, or to meet his burden of coming forward with evidence, sufficient to deprive the defendant of immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act's "non-discretionary torts" exception. We also hold that because of the absence of "manifest injustice," the plaintiff may not raise an alternative basis for jurisdiction under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act for the first time on appeal. Affirmed. Judge Sotomayor concurs in a separate opinion.
Invoking federal subject matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343, Robinson filed a complaint against the Malaysian government in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging that it had "caused" his injuries "by [its] recklessness, carelessness and negligence... in the ownership, operation, maintenance and control of the [building]...." Pl.'s Compl. ¶ 11. In its amended answer, the Malaysian government asserted immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act ("FSIA"), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1330, 1602- 1611, and concurrently moved to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under Rule 12(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The district court (Constance Baker Motley, Judge) granted the motion.
We affirm on the grounds that (i) Robinson failed either to allege facts, or to meet his burden of coming forward with evidence, sufficient to deprive the Malaysian government of immunity under the "non- discretionary torts" exception of the FSIA, 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(5); and (ii) Robinson may not, for the first time on appeal, raise the "commercial activities" exception to sovereign immunity, 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(2), as an alternative basis for jurisdiction, because he has failed to demonstrate that our refusal to hear that assertion in the first instance would work a "manifest injustice."
In 1993, the American Field Service vacated the premises. The Malaysian government purchased them on a date unspecified in the record but before the time of Robinson's accident. It had not yet occupied them when Robinson was hurt.1 Although Robinson was himself uncertain who owned the premises at the time of the accident, he was under the impression that the Malaysian government did because "[f]rom time to time people [,]... representatives maybe from the Malaysian Government" would visit to "see what [was] happening."
28 U.S.C. § 1330(a). Title 28 U.S.C. § § 1604 and 1605, the latter referred to in § 1330(a), are, like § 1330 itself, a part of the FSIA. Section 1604 provides that, generally, "a foreign state shall be immune from the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States and of the States except as provided in [28 U.S.C.] sections 1605 to 1607...." Section 1605 sets forth, inter alia, various exceptions to that immunity: the circumstances in which "[a] foreign state shall not be immune from the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States or of the States." Id. § 1605(a). The FSIA "'provides the sole basis for obtaining jurisdiction over a foreign state in the courts of this country.'" Saudi Arabia v. Nelson, 507 U.S. 349, 355 (1993) (quoting Argentine Republic v. Amerada Hess Shipping Corp., 488 U.S. 428, 443 (1989)); see also Reiss v. Societe Centrale Du Groupe Des Assurances Nationales, 235 F.3d 738, 746 (2d Cir. 2000) (quoting Amerada Hess, 488 U.S. at 443).
(A) any claim based upon the exercise or performa