Opinion ID: 543051
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Treaty of Amity

Text: 54 Foremost claims that, under the Treaty of Amity, Iran waived its sovereign immunity as to suits arising out of commercial activity in which it is involved. Thus, according to Foremost, there is no jurisdictional issue to be addressed under FSIA. We cannot agree. 55 Two sections of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act bear on consideration of the effect of the Treaty of Amity: sections 1604 and 1605(a)(1). Section 1604 of FSIA provides: 56 Subject to existing international agreements to which the United States is a party at the time of enactment of this Act a foreign state shall be immune from the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States and of the States except as provided in sections 1605 to 1607 of this chapter. 57 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1604. This exception [to FSIA] applies when international agreements 'expressly conflic[t]' with the immunity provisions of the FSIA. Argentine Republic v. Amerada Hess Shipping Corp., 488 U.S. 428, 109 S.Ct. 683, 692, 102 L.Ed.2d 818 (1989). The Supreme Court found no such express conflict where the international conventions set forth substantive rules of conduct and did not create private rights of action for foreign corporations to recover compensation from foreign states in United States courts. Id. Article IV of the Treaty of Amity sets forth such substantive provisions, and hence does not pose a bar to application of FSIA. 16 58 In addition, pursuant to section 1605(a)(1), if the Treaty of Amity contained an explicit waiver of sovereign immunity, the foreign state would not be entitled to immunity under FSIA. See Amerada Hess, 109 S.Ct. at 692; Berkovitz v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 735 F.2d 329, 333 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1035, 105 S.Ct. 510, 83 L.Ed.2d 401 (1984). However, the only express provision for waiver of sovereign immunity under the Treaty of Amity is found in Article XI, paragraph 4: 59 No enterprise of either High Contracting Party, including corporations, associations, and government agencies and instrumentalities, which is publicly owned or controlled shall, if it engages in commercial, industrial, shipping or other business activities within the territories of the other High Contracting Party, claim or enjoy, either for itself or for its property, immunity therein from ... suit.... 60 8 U.S.T. at 908. We agree with the Ninth Circuit that this limited waiver extends only to enterprises of Iran, not Iran itself and extends only to enterprises 'doing business' in the United States. Berkovitz, 735 F.2d at 333; see also Jafari v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 539 F.Supp. 209, 211 (N.D. Ill.1982) (concluding that art. XI p 4 of the Treaty of Amity waives immunity of enterprises but not of Iran itself); Mashayekhi v. Iran, 515 F.Supp. 41, 43 (D.D.C.1981) (finding limited waiver of immunity in Article XI); cf. Gibbons v. Republic of Ireland, 532 F.Supp. 668, 672 (D.D.C.1982) (concluding that virtually identical treaty provision waived immunity of enterprises including the sovereign's instrumentalities but did not waive immunity of the sovereign itself). In the instant case, the alleged commercial actions took place in Iran not in the United States and Foremost brought the action against the sovereign itself. Thus, the provisions of Article XI, paragraph 4, are not apposite and, for the purposes of the instant case, Iran did not waive its immunity in that treaty. 17