Personal Jurisdiction

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Criminal

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, FLAUM, Circuit Judge, and KENNELLY, District Judge.

Personal Jurisdiction

No. 14-3105 Sinovel Wind Group Co., Ltd v. Barbara Crabb

No. 14-3013 USA v. Sinovel Wind Group Co., Ltd

Appellant fails to meet criteria to have collateral order appealed.

“We raised this problem at oral argument, where Sinovel conceded that the rules applying to foreign sovereigns are not (at least technically) applicable to it. It argued instead that China’s stake in Sinovel warrants at least “a thumb on the scale” in favor of appellate jurisdiction over the district court’s denial of the motion to quash. But Sinovel has pointed to no rule to that effect. It cites Samantar v. Yousuf, 560 U.S. 305 (2010), in support of its argument that the FSIA’s language does not necessarily exclude entities it does not mention from its protections. Samantar, however, dealt with the question whether a foreign official could invoke the protections of the FSIA and thereby obtain immunity from suit. No, the Court replied: the term “foreign state” is defined in the statute, and officials are not mentioned. Id. at 315–16. It reached that result despite the fact that it recognized some residual federal common law of foreign sovereign immunity. Id. at 324. If Samantar helps anyone, it helps the government in this case, not Sinovel. We see no reason why a foreign corporation in which a foreign government has a minority stake is entitled to a “thumb on the scale” for jurisdictional purposes”

Dismissed and Denied

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing attorney at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.