HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_017931.jpg
Extracted Text (OCR)
In re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, 392 F.Supp.2d 539 (2005)
10 A.L.R. Fed. 2d 789
reconsideration of those decisions.
A. Standard
441 45] A motion for reconsideration is appropriate where
a court overlooks “controlling decisions or factual matters
that were put before it on the underlying motion ... and
which, had they been considered, might have reasonably
altered the result before the court.” Range Road Music,
Inc. v. Music Sales Corp., 90 F.Supp.2d 390, 392
(S.D.N.Y.2000); see also Shrader v. CSX Transp. Inc., 70
F.3d 255, 257 (2d Cir.1995) (“The standard for granting a
motion [for reconsideration] is strict, and ... will generally
be denied unless the moving party can point to controlling
decisions or data that the court overlooked....”). A motion
for reconsideration may also be granted to “correct a clear
error or prevent manifest injustice.” Doe v. New York City
Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 709 F.2d 782, 789 (2d Cir.1983).
B. The Court Will Consider NCB’s Personal
Jurisdiction Defense First
NCB offers two bases for reconsideration. First, NCB
argues that even if the Court becomes assured of its
subject matter and personal jurisdiction over NCB,
Plaintiffs’ claims are doomed because the Court
dismissed similar claims against Al Rajhi Bank, Saudi
American Bank, and Arab Bank. NCB contends that
Center for Reproductive Law & Policy v. Bush, 304 F.3d
183, 194-95 (2d Cw.2002), supports its theory that the
Court does not need to establish jurisdiction over NCB
because the Court’s dismissal of other Saudi banks
“foreordains” NCB’s dismissal on 12(b)(6) grounds.
Alternatively, NCB urges the Court to limit this
litigation’s intrusion on Saudi Arabia and postpone
resolution of its FSIA immunity defense until after the
personal jurisdiction question is resolved.
The Ashton and Burnett Plaintiffs argue that the Court
should not consider NCB’s reliance on Bush because it
was not raised i NCB’s original motion to dismiss.
Moreover, they are adamant that jurisdictional questions
must be resolved first. See Steel Co. v. Citizens for a
Better Environment, 523 U.S. 83, 94-95, 118 S.Ct. 1003,
140 LEd2d 210 (1998) (“The requirement that
jurisdiction be established as a threshold matter springs
from the nature and limits of the judicial power of the
United States and is inflexible and without exception.”)
(internal citation and quotations omitted). And in
WESTLAW
Plaintiffs’ view, the subject matter jurisdiction question
must be resolved before the Court addresses personal
jurisdiction. See Reiss v. Societe Centrale Du Groupe Des
Assurances Nationales, 235 F.3d 738, 746 (2d Cir.2000)
(“The initial question to be answered in this case is not
whether there is personal jurisdiction within the meaning
of the New York [C.P.L.R.] but whether there is subject
matter jurisdiction within the meaning of the [FSIA].”).
Plaintiffs submit that it would be inefficient to separate
the personal jurisdiction discovery from the FSIA
discovery since the two inquiries are related. Finally,
Plaintiffs argue that the Court’s rulings on the other Saudi
banks’ Rule 12(b)(6) motions cannot apply to NCB
because the allegations against the various banks are not
identical.
In Bush, following the Supreme Court’s instructions in
Steel Co., the district court dismissed the case for lack of
subject matter jurisdiction after finding plaintiffs lacked
standing to sue. On appeal, the Second Circuit found the
case “exceptional,” because twelve years earlier it had
“entertained and rejected, on the merits, the same
constitutional challenge to the provision at issue.” Bush,
304 F.3d at 186; *574 see also Planned Parenthood Fed.
of Am. v. Agency of Int’] Devi, 915 F.2d 59 (2d Cir.1990)
(rejecting same constitutional challenge to same
governmental provision). It explained two exceptions to
the general rule that courts “ordinarily ... are not to
assume the existence of jurisdiction in favor of reaching
an ‘easier’ merits issue.” Bush, 304 F.3d at 193 (quoting
Fidelity Partners, Inc. v. First Trust, Co. of N.Y., 142 F.3d
560, 565 (2d Cir.1998)).
The only exception relevant here is “in those ‘particular
circumstances’ where the outcome on the merits has been
‘foreordained’ by another case such that the
‘jurisdictional question could have no effect on the
outcome,’ provided the court ‘does not use the
pretermission of the jurisdictional question as a device for
reaching a question of law that otherwise would have
gone unaddressed.’ ” Bush, 304 F.3d at 194 (quoting Stee/
Co., 523 U.S. at 98, 118 S.Ct. 1003). The exception stems
from Secretary of Navy v. Avrech, 418 U.S. 676, 94 S.Ct.
3039, 41 L.Ed.2d 1033 (1974), in which the Supreme
Court dismissed a _ constitutional challenge to a
governmental provision on the merits before reaching the
jurisdiction question because the Court had earlier
rejected a similar constitutional challenge to the same
provision in Parker v. Levy, 417 U.S. 733, 94 S.Ct. 2547,
41 LEd.2d 439 (1974). See Bush, 304 F.3d at 194
(describing Avrech and Parker ). Accordingly, in Bush,
the Second Circuit skipped the initial-and
“novel”—standing question because that analysis would
have been rendered “advisory” by “a controlling decision
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_017931
Extracted Information
Dates
Document Details
| Filename | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_017931.jpg |
| File Size | 0.0 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 85.0% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 5,232 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-04T16:33:33.456072 |