Judge Stein
http://nycourts.law.com/CourtDocumentViewer.asp?view=Document&docID=118603
PLAINTIFFS named the People’s Republic of China and others in their lawsuit—originally filed in 1993 in the Western District of Missouri—asserting product liability, negligence and breach of warranty in connection with their 13-year-old son’s death after an SKS semi-automatic rifle—allegedly improperly made in China—had jammed. In October 1996, despite China’s assertion of sovereign immunity, the court issued a $10 million default judgment against the country, finding jurisdiction against China under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act’s (FSIA) “commercial activity” exception. The Southern District of New York granted the motion by nonparty banks—the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and China Construction Bank Corp.—to quash restraining notices and subpoenas issued to them by plaintiffs. Plaintiffs sought to restrain assets and to subpoena documents concerning China-owned assets held by the banks outside the United States. Because assets held outside the United States fall outside FSIA’s exception to sovereign immunity—and FSIA was the sole basis for obtaining jurisdiction against China—the FSIA provided no exception to China’s sovereign immunity that would justify the notices of restraint or subpoenas.
