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Bank Markazi, aka The Central Bank of Iran v. Deborah D. Peterson, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, No. 15-0690 · judgment November 21, 2017

GVR'd · January 13, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 3% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

Traditionally, a foreign sovereign’s assets were absolutely immune from execution, wherever located. Congress modified that rule in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (“FSIA”), Pub. L. No. 94-583, 90 Stat. 2891, by providing that a foreign sovereign’s “property in the United States” is immune from execution unless it falls within certain narrowly defined exceptions. 28 U.S.C. §§ 1609-1610. In the decision below, the Second Circuit held that the FSIA places no limits at all on the seizure of a foreign sovereign’s property outside the United States, and in fact displaces any common-law immunity that would otherwise apply. Applying that rule, the Second Circuit held that the district court could order a foreign bank to transfer $1.68 billion of sovereign assets from Luxembourg to New York to satisfy default judgments. The question presented is: Whether a foreign sovereign’s property outside the United States is entitled to sovereign immunity. (i)

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Jeffrey Alan Lamken
MoloLamken LLP

For respondent
Matthew Dempsey McGill
King & Spalding LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Related
Vide, 17-1529, 17-1530

Proceedings

  1. Feb 14 2020
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  2. Jan 13 2020
    Petition GRANTED. Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED for further consideration in light of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, Pub. L. No. 116-__ (S. 1790).
  3. Dec 23 2019
    Certificate of Service filed with respect to brief of amicus curiae of United States.
  4. Dec 23 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/10/2020.
  5. Dec 23 2019
    Supplemental brief of respondents Deborah Peterson, et al. filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  6. Dec 20 2019
    Supplemental brief of petitioner Bank Markazi, the Central Bank of Iran filed.
  7. Dec 20 2019
    Supplemental brief of United States filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  8. Dec 11 2019
    Certificate of Service of United States not accepted for filing. (Corrected verison submitted)(December 23, 2019)
  9. Dec 09 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of United States filed. VIDED.
  10. Oct 01 2018
    The Solicitor General is invited to file a brief in this case expressing the views of the United States.
  11. Jul 25 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/24/2018.
  12. Jul 24 2018
    Reply of petitioner Bank Markazi, the Central Bank of Iran filed.
  13. Jul 11 2018
    Brief of respondents Deborah Peterson, et al. in opposition filed. VIDED.
  14. Jun 06 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including July 11, 2018.
  15. May 31 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from June 11, 2018 to July 11, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
  16. May 07 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due June 11, 2018)