Opinion ID: 187202
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Service of process and punitive damages issues

Text: Libya claims that the district court erred in allowing LRA to make service of process on the individual defendants in their personal capacities. In allowing service of process, Libya asserts that the district court ignored the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, constitutional due process requirements, as well as a stipulation agreed to by the parties. LRA replies that the individual defendants are not parties to this appeal and that service of process affected only them; as such, argues LRA, Libya may not raise this issue on appeal as it is of no concern to it. In other words, LRA contends that Libya does not have standing to bring the issue before us. We agree. A necessary (albeit insufficient) requirement needed to support standing is for the claimed injury to affect the complaining party in a personal and individual way. Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560 n. 1, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992). Here, Libya's claim that the individual defendants do not have actual notice of the case in that they were not properly served, and that therefore the district court is without personal jurisdiction over the individual defendants, does not affect Libya personally or otherwise. Consequently, Libya does not have standing to appeal the district court's service of process decision. The district court declined to presently determine whether punitive damages were available to LRA, stating that the determination would depend in part on unresolved choice-of-law issues, and further stating that the parties were to address the issue in light of Philip Morris USA v. Williams, ___ U.S. ___, 127 S.Ct. 1057, 166 L.Ed.2d 940 (2007). La Réunion Aérienne, 477 F.Supp.2d at 137. Libya argues on appeal that the district court's refusal to address whether punitive damages are available to LRA is erroneous because the issue is to be determined pursuant solely to the FSIA. But Libya is not in a position to make this argument. In its Memorandum Opinion and Order the district court noted that [p]laintiff[] concede[s] that punitive damages are available, if at all, only against the individual defendants sued in their personal capacities. [1] Id. at 137 n. 7. The court deferred consideration of the availability of punitive damages against the individual defendants who, as we noted above, are not parties to this appeal. Libya therefore also does not have standing to appeal the district court's decision on punitive damages.