Opinion ID: 2830921
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Ownership of the Assets

Text: Bank Melli argues that the TRIA and section 1610(g) apply only to assets “owned” by Bank Melli and—while it concedes it has a 100% beneficial interest in the assets held by Visa and Franklin—it claims it doesn’t “own” them yet because the funds have been blocked. BENNETT V. BANK MELLI 17 But there’s more to ownership than physical possession. The question of how to determine the funds’ ownership is controlled by our holding in Peterson v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 627 F.3d 1117, 1130 (9th Cir. 2010). There, we noted that “[e]nforcement proceedings in federal district court are governed by the law of the state in which the court sits” unless a federal statute dictates otherwise. Id. We held that the “FSIA does not provide methods for the enforcement of judgments against foreign states, only that those judgments may not be enforced by resort to immune property.” We therefore concluded that “California law on the enforcement of judgments applies.” Id. Finally, we noted that “California enforcement law authorizes a court to ‘order the judgment debtor to assign to the judgment creditor . . . all or part of a right to payment due or to become due, whether or not the right is conditioned on future developments.’” Id. at 1130–31 (quoting Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 708.510(a)) (emphasis added). Those holdings collectively dispose of Bank Melli’s argument here. Because the FSIA doesn’t provide a method for enforcement, California law applies to this proceeding and, under California law, money “owed to” Bank Melli may be assigned to judgment creditors. The fact that Bank Melli is not yet in physical possession of the funds is immaterial.