Opinion ID: 532601
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: analysis of fsia

Text: 10 Congress enacted the FSIA to delineate when and how parties can maintain a lawsuit against a foreign state or its entities in the Courts of the United States, and when a foreign state is entitled to sovereign immunity. H.R.Rep. No. 1487, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. 6 (1976), reprinted in 1976 United States Code Cong. & Admin.News 6604, 6604. Application of the statute requires some unraveling of the Act's interlocking provisions governing the separate issues of subject matter jurisdiction, sovereign immunity, and personal jurisdiction. Maritime Int'l Nominees Establishment v. Republic of Guinea, 693 F.2d 1094, 1099 (D.C.Cir.1982), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 815, 104 S.Ct. 71, 78 L.Ed.2d 84 (1983). 11 Title 28, United States Code, Section 1330(a), addresses subject matter jurisdiction over foreign states. It grants to federal district courts: 12 original jurisdiction without regard to amount in controversy of any nonjury civil action against a foreign state as defined in section 1603(a) of this title as to any claim for relief in personam with respect to which the foreign state is not entitled to immunity either under sections 1605-1607 of this title or under any applicable international agreement. 13 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1330(a). 14 Personal jurisdiction is encompassed in 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1330(b). The section provides, in relevant part: 15 Personal jurisdiction over a foreign state shall exist as to every claim for relief over which the district courts have jurisdiction under subsection (a) where service has been made under section 1608 of this title. 16 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1330(b). 17 While it is axiomatic, subsection (b) makes clear that lack of subsection (a) subject matter jurisdiction deprives a district court of personal jurisdiction. If a nation enjoys subsection (a) sovereign immunity, no claim may be maintained under FSIA. The absence of immunity is a condition to the presence of subject matter jurisdiction. Maritime Int'l Nominees, 693 F.2d at 1099. 18 The FSIA has three immunity provisions pertinent to this matter. Under the Act, a foreign state or its agents are without immunity in cases: 19 (2) in which the action is based upon a commercial activity carried on in the United States by the foreign state; or upon an act performed in the United States in connection with a commercial activity of the foreign state elsewhere; or upon an act outside the territory of the United States in connection with a commercial activity of the foreign state elsewhere and that act causes a direct effect in the United States; 20 (3) in which rights in property taken in violation of international law are in issue and that property or any property exchanged for such property is present in the United States in connection with a commercial activity carried on in the United States by the foreign state; or that property or any property exchanged for such property is owned or operated by an agency or instrumentality of the foreign state and that agency or instrumentality is engaged in a commercial activity in the United States; 21