Opinion ID: 151499
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Proposed Amended Complaint

Text: On December 12, 2007, Mortimer filed motions pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e) to amend the judgment and for leave to file an amended complaint. With respect to the West German Bonds, the proposed amended complaint alleged that the London Debt Accord and 1953 Treaty do not require bondholders seeking to enforce their bonds against the FRG to comply with the validation procedures, and that, in any event, the Validation Law no longer applies after unification. As for the East German Bonds, the proposed amended complaint listed various acts of recognition by which Mortimer alleged that the FRG repeatedly recognized its obligation for the pre-war external debt of the German Reich and the [s]tate of Prussia. (Proposed Am. Compl. ¶ 15.) The proposed amended complaint also averred that the Unification Treaty exempts the East German Bonds from the validation procedures. On April 9, 2007, the district court denied Mortimer's motion as essentially an effort to reargue the basic rationale underlying the dismissal of the claim. Mortimer, No. 05 Civ. 10669, Order at 1. The district court reasoned that Mortimer's added allegations that the FRG adopted the obligations of former East Germany by taking over its territory and by entering into the Unification Treaty of 1990 d[id] not explain how the former East German state assumed any liability on the [B]onds, or how the provisions of the Validation Law [were] overcome. Id. The district court also concluded that the relation of the present Federal Republic to the pre-war governments of Germany is a classic example of state succession and not simply a change of government. Id. at 2. Mortimer appealed, challenging both the dismissal of its complaint for failure to state a claim, and the denial of its motions to amend the judgment and for leave to file an amended complaint. The FRG cross-appealed, challenging the district court's holding that it had subject matter jurisdiction over Mortimer's claim under the FSIA. [11]