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Extracted Text (OCR)
IN RE TERRORIST ATTACKS ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
789
Cite as 349 F.Supp.2d_ 765 (S.D.N.Y. 2005)
[11] The Court disagrees with this reli-
ance on Dole Food. The Supreme Court
resolved two questions in Dole Food. “The
first [was] whether a corporate subsidiary
can claim instrumentality status where the
foreign state does not own a majority of its
shares but does own a majority of the
shares of a corporate parent one or more
tiers above the subsidiary. The second
question [was] whether a corporation’s in-
strumentality status is defined as of the
time an alleged tort or other actionable
wrong occurred or, on the other hand, at
the time the suit is filed.” Jd. at 471, 128
S.Ct. 1655. The Supreme Court held that
a foreign state’s ownership of an entity
must be direct for the entity to be consid-
ered an instrumentality. Jd. at 474, 128
S.Ct. 1655. The Supreme Court also ruled
that ownership must be determined as of
the date on which the complaint was filed.
Id. at 480, 123 S.Ct. 1655. Neither of
these points of law speaks, however, to the
circumstances under which an individual is
covered by the FSIA. Indeed, numerous
other courts that have addressed this issue
have held that the relevant inquiry for
individuals is simply whether the acts in
question were undertaken at a time when
the individual was acting in an official ca-
pacity. See, e.g., Velasco, 370 F.3d at 398-
99; Byrd, 182 F.3d at 388; Bryks, 906
F.Supp. at 210. This Court considers that
precedent to be more consistent with the
FSIA and unaltered by the decision in
Dole Food. Thus, it deems Prince Turki
the equivalent of the foreign state inas-
24. After the parties submitted their briefs and
argued the FSIA issue, the Ashton Plaintiffs
filed supplemental affidavits, without leave of
the Court, to contest, for the first time, the
timing of the PIF’s majority ownership. See
03 MD 1570 Docket # 455. The parties agree
that the PIF bought 50% of NCB shares in
May 1999. See John Fawcett Sept. 23, 2004
Supplemental Affidavit at Ex. 1 (“Fawcett
Supp. Aff.”). Later in 1999, the PIF sold 10%
of its shares to the General Organization for
much as the complaints allege actions tak-
en in his official capacity as the head of the
DGI. Accordingly, both Prince Sultan and
Prince Turki are immune from suit for
their official acts unless an exception un-
der the FSIA applies.
2. National Commercial Bank
NCB submits that it is an instrumentali-
ty of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and
therefore immune from suit. See Decl. of
Nizar Bin Obaid Madani, Assistant Minis-
ter of Foreign Affairs of Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia 12, at Berger Decl. Ex. 7 (“It is
the position of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs that NCB is a government instru-
mentality of the Kingdom of Saudi Ara-
bia.”). To enjoy immunity from suit under
the FSIA, NCB must demonstrate that it
is an agency or instrumentality, or a politi-
cal subdivision of the Kingdom. 28 U.S.C.
§ 1603(a). As explained above, the FSIA
defines an “agency or instrumentality” as
(1) “a separate legal person, ...(2) which
is an organ of a foreign state or political
subdivision thereof, or a majority of whose
shares or other ownership interest is
owned by a foreign state or political subdi-
vision thereof,” and (8) a non-U.S. citizen.
28 U.S.C. § 160300). Accordingly, NCB
claims that (1) it is a separate legal person,
(2) at the time the suit was filed a majority
of its shares were owned by an administra-
tive unit of the Saudi Ministry of Finance,
the Public Investment Fund (““PIF”),* and
(8) it is not a citizen of the United States
Social Insurance. Fawcett Supp. Aff. at Ex.
2. Late in 2002 the PIF agreed to buy 30% of
the remaining shares from the bin Mahfouz
family, but Plaintiffs claim the purchase was
not completed until January 2003, after the
lawsuit was filed on September 4, 2002. See
Fawcett Supp. Aff. at Ex. 3 & 4 (mews ac-
counts of sale).
explained below, the Court finds it unneces-
sary to resolve this dispute at this time.
For the reasons that will be
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| Indexed | 2026-02-04T16:33:14.532471 |