Fresh off the United States Supreme Court decision in Republic of Argentina v. NML Capital, Ltd., see No Discovery Immunity Under FSIA, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City held on September 9, 2014 that a foreign sovereign state's assets around the world are not immune from discovery, even if a majority of the assets in question are considered outside of the commercial activity exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, Export-Import Bank of the Republic of China v. Grenada.
In the Southern District Court of New York, Export-Import Bank had sought a $21 million judgment in defaulted loans made to Grenada, based on Grenada's waiver of immunity in loan documents between the two entities. Any property of Grenada used for commercial activity within the U.S. is no longer immune from attachment, according to FSIA. Yet even a sovereign state's waiver of immunity does not always result in a favorable judgment for the other party.
The Second Circuit affirmed the District Court's decision that the two sets of funds in question were immune. Following Argentina v. NML, though, the FSIA does not afford Grenada immunity from discovery of its assets. The Court questions a subset of funds that passed through the International Air Transport Association, which has operations in the United States. Export-Import Bank can now further its efforts in the district court to determine whether any Grenadian property face attachment. If funds are used at any point within the U.S., Export-Import Bank could possibly execute a judgment in their favor.
While both Argentina and Grenada waived immunity in their respective contracts, Argentina took legislative action to avoid payment to particular creditors, while Grenada has defaulted on payments to many of their bondholders. The Second Circuit's ruling allows the District Court jurisdiction to search all foreign assets of Grenada -- an act that could affect foreign relations with the United States. While the Supreme Court's opinion in Argentina suggested that possibility, Justice Antonin Scalia pointed to other foreign statutes that could hinder a lower court's granting of discovery.
Original post located at: http://embassylaw.com/#0929-enforcement-immunity-fsia
