dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

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Republic of Hungary v. Simon was a case argued before the Supreme Court of the United States on December 7, 2020, during the court's October 2020-2021 term. The case came on a writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The case concerned the doctrine of international comity and the expropriation exception of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).

In a per curiam opinion, the court vacated the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's ruling and remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with the Supreme Court ruling in Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp.[3]

HIGHLIGHTS

The case: The case arises out of opposing rulings in the 7th Circuit and the D.C. Circuit. Jewish survivors of the Hungarian Holocaust sued the Hungarian government and Magyar Államvasutak Zrt., Hungary's state-owned railway company. The survivors sought damages for property the Hungarian government confiscated during World War II. The 7th Circuit ruled that under the doctrine of international comity, the survivors should first file suit in Hungarian courts. The D.C. Circuit held the opposite view.[4][5]

The issue: "May the district court abstain from exercising jurisdiction under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act for reasons of international comity, where former Hungarian nationals have sued the nation of Hungary to recover the value of property lost in Hungary during World War II, and where the plaintiffs made no attempt to exhaust local Hungarian remedies?"[6]

The outcome: In a per curiam opinion, the court vacated the D.C. Circuit's ruling and remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with the Supreme Court ruling in Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp.

February 3, 2021: The U.S. Supreme Court vacated the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's ruling and remanded the case for further proceedings.

December 7, 2020: The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument.

July 2, 2020: The court agreed to hear the case.

May 16, 2019: The Republic of Hungary and Magyar Államvasutak Zrt., the petitioners, appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

December 28, 2018: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed the district court's ruling and remanded the case.

Background

In 2010, three groups, including the respondents, filed three identical lawsuits—two in Chicago (the 7th Circuit) and one in Washington, D.C. (the D.C. Circuit)—against the Hungarian government and Magyar Államvasutak Zrt. (MAV), Hungary's state-owned railway company. The respondents are Jewish survivors of the Hungarian Holocaust.[4] They sought to represent a class of current and former Hungarian citizens seeking damages for property taken from them in Hungary during World War II.[5]

Chicago lawsuits

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit pointed to the doctrine of international comity, holding that the groups needed to seek legal remedies in Hungary or show "a powerful reason to excuse the requirement" in the United States.

The 7th Circuit said:

“We should consider how the United States would react if a foreign court ordered the U.S. Treasury or the Federal Reserve Bank to pay a group of plaintiffs 40 percent of U.S. annual gross domestic product, which would be roughly $6 trillion, or $20,000 for every resident in the United States. And consider further the reaction if such an order were based on events that happened generations ago in the United States itself, without any effort to secure just compensation through U.S. courts.”

D.C. lawsuit

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected the district court's decisions, which aligned with the 7th Circuit's rulings.[5] The D.C. Circuit said:

“A proper application of the relevant factors leaves no basis for designating Hungary the strongly preferred location for this litigation because Hungary is not home to any identified plaintiff, has not been shown to be the source of governing law, lacks a process for remediation recognized by the United States government, and is not the only location of material amounts of evidence.[7] ”

The petitioners in this case argued that the D.C. Circuit's rulings "have profoundly important consequences for international comity, for foreign sovereigns sued in U.S. courts, and for the United States’ own foreign policy interests."

Respondents

The respondents are Rosalie Simon, Helen Herman, Charlotte Weiss, Helena Weksberg, Rose Miller, Magda Kopolovich Bar-Or, Zehava (Olga) Friedman, Yitzhak Pressburger, Alexander Speiser, Ze’ev Tibi Ram, Vera Deutsch Danos, Ella Feuerstein Schlanger, Moshe Perel, Yosef Yogev, Asher Yogev Esther Zelikovitch, and the Estate of Tzvi Zelikovitch.

https://ballotpedia.org/Republic_of_Hungary_v._Simon