Setback For Chabad, US Appeals Court Overturns Sanctions On Russia In Library Case

by CrownHeights.info

In a setback for Chabad in a long running legal battle over the Frierdiker Rebbe’s Library held in Russia, the US Court of Appeals overturned a previous judgment that allowed monetary sanctions on Russia, essentially blocking Chabad’s ability to hold the Russian Federation responsible.

For the third time, we consider an appeal in this long-running lawsuit brought by Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States to reclaim religious property unlawfully expropriated by the Russian stat,” the Appeals Court wrote. “Years ago, Chabad obtained a default judgment against the Russian Federation and several of its agencies along with an order directing them to return the expropriated property. The defendants ignored that order, so the district court imposed monetary sanctions against them, payable to Chabad. The sanctions have now accrued to over $175 million and have been made enforceable through interim judgments.”

The appeal arose after Chabad attempted to collect on those sanctions judgments by attaching the property of three companies it contends the Russian Federation owns and controls.

“We hold that Chabad may not do so,” the Appeals Court ruled. “As a foreign state, the Russian Federation has sovereign immunity from civil suits unless its immunity has been abrogated by the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. The district court believed that it had jurisdiction over the Russian Federation pursuant to that Act’s “expropriation exception” to immunity. Our precedents, however, establish that the expropriation exception is inapplicable in the circumstances of this case. The district court thus does not have—and has never had—jurisdiction over Chabad’s claims against the Russian Federation.”

This ruling hands Chabad significant setback as attempts to have the library returned to Chabad have for years remained in a deadlock. Without leverage, the Russian Federation has been unlikely to let the treasure that is the Scheersohn Library go. The recent ruling, which allowed the leveraging of sanctions against Russia, was seen as the needed action that may finally give the Russian Federation the incentive it needed to return it. Unfortunately, that leverage has now been taken away.

Read The Complete Ruling HERE!