Opinion ID: 2502147
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Waiver by Commercial or Tortious Conduct Under the FSIA

Text: The contention that China waived immunity from execution through the same alleged commercial and tortious conduct relied on by the Missouri district court to exercise § 1330(a) subject matter jurisdiction is incompatible with the text of the FSIA. Notably, in entertaining the Walters' suit against China, the district court for the Western District of Missouri did not find any waiver of jurisdictional immunity by the foreign state. See 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(1). Rather, it relied upon the FSIA's specific exceptions to jurisdictional immunity based upon commercial activity and tortious act or omission. Id. § 1605(a)(2), (a)(5). [12] As detailed in Part II.B.3, supra, the FSIA provides no similar exceptions to execution immunity on these grounds. See id. § 1610. A comparison of the plain language of § 1605 with § 1610, see Part II.B.3, supra, together with application of the construction principle expressio unius est exclusio alterius, see, e.g., Cordiano v. Metacon Gun Club, Inc., 575 F.3d 199, 221 (2d Cir.2009) (referring to familiar principle that the mention of one thing implies the exclusion of the other (internal quotation marks omitted)), defeats petitioners' attempt to use commercial or tortious conduct as the basis for a waiver of execution immunity. Indeed, petitioners' unsupported assertion that China's commercial activities in the United States constitute[] a waiver of immunity not only from jurisdiction, but also of immunity from execution, Appellants' Br. at 31, mistakenly conflates jurisdiction and execution immunity, compare 28 U.S.C. §§ 1604-1607, with id. §§ 1609-1611. As previously discussed in Part II. B.3, supra, the FSIA's distinct treatment of these two types of immunity indicates that a waiver of immunity from suit does not imply a waiver of immunity from attachment of property, and vice versa. Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law of the United States § 456(1)(b); see also Ministry of Def. & Support for Armed Forces of Islamic Republic of Iran v. Cubic Def. Sys., Inc., 385 F.3d at 1218-19. The narrower scope of jurisdictional immunity under §§ 1604-1607, relative to the scope of execution immunity under §§ 1609-1611, reinforces this point. See De Letelier v. Republic of Chile, 748 F.2d at 798-99. Petitioners identify no basis in law to conclude that any of China's U.S.-directed conduct should be deemed a waiver of execution immunity, as distinct from jurisdictional immunity. First City, Texas-Houston, N.A. v. Rafidain Bank, 281 F.3d 48 (2d Cir.2002), cited by petitioners, does not support their position. There, we held that a waiver [of jurisdictional immunity] by a foreign state under section 1605(a)(2), rendering it a party to an action, is broad enough to sustain the court's jurisdiction through proceedings to aid collection of a money judgment rendered in the case, including discovery pertaining to the judgment debtor's assets. Id. at 53-54. Petitioners contend that jurisdiction through proceedings to aid collection of a money judgment necessarily includes jurisdiction to enforce a judgment through attachment or execution. Whether or not that is correct, the existence of subject-matter jurisdiction alone does not entitle petitioners to execute upon sovereign assets. In First City we held that subject-matter jurisdiction, once established through the applicability of an exception to jurisdictional immunity under § 1605, continues through post-judgment enforcement proceedings, including discovery of assets that might be subject to attachment or execution. We did not, however, hold that a waiver of jurisdictional immunity reaches beyond the discovery of such assets to waive the execution immunity that might attach to the property itself. Indeed, the structure of the FSIA, clearly separating these two types of immunity, precludes reading First City to entail that jurisdiction over China for purposes of petitioners' underlying claims also entitles petitioners to execute against any property of China to enforce the Missouri default judgment. Accordingly, we reject this prong of petitioners' waiver argument.