Arbitration State Immunity in the United States

Main Elements of a Claim Under § 1605A FSIA

Opportunity to arbitrate

According to research about Arbitration State Immunity from the Federal Judicial Center:When the act or acts in question took place in the foreign state’s territory, the government in question must be given an opportunity to arbitrate the claim before its immunity can be removed under section 1605A.320 In effect, the arbitration provision operates as a type of “exhaustion of remedies” requirement, giving the foreign state an arbitration alternative to litigation in U.S. courts. To date, no state sponsor of terrorism has agreed to such arbitration. Nonetheless, the statutory requirement must be satisfied. One court found it sufficient that the plaintiff had mailed to the foreign state an offer to arbitrate subject to certain conditions. The conditions included demands that arbitration would be “conducted ‘by a third-party organization with extensive experience in arbitrating international disputes’ and that the arbitration would ‘not require [the plaintiff’s] absence from the United States.”321 Notably, the plaintiff did not need to make the offer to arbitrate prior to the filing of the compliant. If the terrorist act in question occurred outside the defendant state, the arbitration requirement does not apply. Note: FSIA is the acronym of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976.

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Popular Topics related with Arbitration State Immunity

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• Foreign Immunities
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• Immunity to Diplomats