No. 24-326

Ricardo Devengoechea v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Lower Court: Third Circuit
Docketed: 2024-09-20
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Experienced Counsel
Tags: circuit-conflict commercial-activity foreign-sovereign-immunities-act implied-waiver judgment-execution property-seizure
Latest Conference: 2024-11-22
Question Presented (from Petition)

Title 28 U.S.C. § 1610(a)(1) of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act provides that a foreign country which suffers a judgment against it may waive its immunity against execution on its property either explicitly or "by implication."

In an action to enforce a judgment against a foreign country under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act:

1. Is the standard for determining the foreign country's implied waiver of its execution immunity under § 1610(a)(1) an objective standard or subjective standard — where the objective standard focuses on the reasonable objective appearance given by the foreign country's conduct, in accord with the ordinary meaning of "implied waver" and Black's Law Dictionary — while the subjective standard focuses solely on the foreign country's subjective "intent"?

2. Is the property of a foreign country which is subject to judgment-execution limited by the statute or by court rulings which depart from the statute — where the judgment-execution statute allows execution against all "[t]he property in the United States of [the] foreign state … used for a commercial activity in the United States" (28 U.S.C. § 1610(a)) — while court rulings in some Circuits restrict judgment-execution to the few?

3. Are the equities of the case relevant to whether a foreign country has impliedly waived its execution immunity, or must a trial court totally disregard the equities in making a determination of implied waiver?

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether the standard for determining a foreign country's implied waiver of execution immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act is an objective or subjective standard, and whether property used for commercial activity is subject to judgment execution despite circuit conflicts

Docket Entries

2024-11-25
Petition DENIED.
2024-11-06
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/22/2024.
2024-09-18
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 21, 2024)

Attorneys

Ricardo Devengoechea
Dennis GrossmanLaw Office of Dennis Grossman, Petitioner