D.C. Cir. Remands Dispute Over Property’s Use to Satisfy $33 Million Arbitration Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pursuant to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, federal district courts must apply the “totality -of-the-circumstances” approach in deciding the question of whether a property may be characterized as “commercial” for purposes of attachment, a federal appeals court has ruled.

In a July 28 opinion, the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found a district court erred in ruling that “a property is immune from attachment unless it is ‘used for a commercial activity’ at the time a writ of attachment issues.”

Beginning in 1979, the Republic of Argentina, through its predecessor, state-owned insurer Caja …