Vera v. Republic of Cuba

91 F. Supp. 3d 561, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32846, 2015 WL 1244050
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMarch 17, 2015
DocketNo. 12 Civ. 1596(AKH)
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 91 F. Supp. 3d 561 (Vera v. Republic of Cuba) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vera v. Republic of Cuba, 91 F. Supp. 3d 561, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32846, 2015 WL 1244050 (S.D.N.Y. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER DENYING MOTION TO RECONSIDER AND GRANTING TURNOVER MOTIONS

ALVIN K. HELLERSTEIN, District Judge:

Plaintiffs are judgment creditors against the Republic of Cuba (“Cuba”). They were granted judgments by the Circuit Court of Florida, and domesticated their judgments in the United States District Courts for the Southern District of Florida and the Southern District of New York, this court. They filed this consolidated Special Proceeding, under Article 52 of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules, N.Y. C.P.L.R. §§ 5225(a), 5225(b), and Rule 69(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, to execute on, among other Cuban properties and property interests, blocked funds relating to Electronic Funds Transfers sent from Cuba or its instru-mentalities to third parties through the Respondent banks. Pursuant to New York state law, Plaintiffs seek discovery in these proceedings of additional Cuban properties and property interests held by Respondents, in their New York branches and elsewhere. See N.Y. C.P.L.R. §§ 5223, 5224(a)(3).

Plaintiffs proceed under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”), 28 U.S.C. § 1605A, previously § 1605(a)(7), [564]*564which provides that foreign nations are not immune to suit in federal or state court if the court finds that the foreign nation perpetrated certain acts of terror. See Saudi Arabia v. Nelson, 507 U.S. 349, 355, 113 S.Ct. 1471, 123 L.Ed.2d 47 (1993). Plaintiffs proceed against funds blocked pursuant to regulations duly promulgated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. See 31 C.F.R. § 515.201 (authorization by U.S. Treasury Department, pursuant to Cuban Asset Control Regulations, to block funds belonging to Republic of Cuba or its instrumentalities), and pursuant to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (“TRIA”), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1610 note and 1610(g) (authorizing judgment creditors against a foreign state that is found to sponsor terrorism to levy against such blocked funds). See Fed.R.Civ.P. 69(a); N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5225(b). ’

The majority of Respondents agreed with Plaintiffs to a procedure providing turnover of the blocked funds, to the . extent the funds originated with Cuba or its instrumentalities, in return for protection of the banks against claims by parties claiming ownership interests in the blocked funds. Two of the Respondents, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentina (S.A.) (“BBVA”) and Standard Chartered Bank (“SCB”) resisted. By order, dated August 22, 2014, I overruled their objection based on the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, and held that I had subject-matter jurisdiction to grant the relief that plaintiffs seek. See Vera v. Republic of Cuba, 40 F.Supp.3d 367 (S.D.N.Y.2014). On September 10, 2014, I overruled Respondents’ objection to personal jurisdiction based on Daimler AG v. Bauman, — U.S. -, 134 S.Ct. 746, 187 L.Ed.2d 624 (2014), a recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court narrowing the scope of general personal jurisdiction over foreign corporations. Now, by a motion for reconsideration, BBVA reasserts its objection to personal jurisdiction, arguing that Gucci Am., Inc. v. Li 768 F.3d 122 (2d Cir.2014), a recent decision of the Court of Appeals, compels a different result.

I hold in this opinion that Gucci does not compel a different result, and I deny BBVA’s motion.1

DISCUSSION

I. The Prior Proceedings

On September 10, 2014, I ordered BBVA and SCB to produce responsive answers to information subpoenas seeking information concerning assets of Cuba and its instrumentalities located in their branches outside of, as well as inside, their respective New York branches. See Order Granting Mot. Compel Full and Complete Ans. to Information Subpoenas arid Den. Mots. Quash, Vera v. Republic of Cuba, No. 12 Civ. 1596 (S.D.N.Y. Sep. 10, 2014), Dkt. No. 677 (“September 10 Order”).

In granting the motion, I ruled that:

The question of where a corporation may be sued, the question addressed in Daimler, has no bearing on the situation ■ here. This case involves attempts by a bank to refuse to answer the questions of a judgment creditor holding a valid judgment from this court and seeking to find assets within the custody and con[565]*565trol of that bank. The judgment creditor seeks information and not, in this proceeding, a turnover of assets. Were Daimler to be read the way that Banco Bilbao argues, the United States would become a haven for banks seeking to evade the consequences of valid judgments against their depositors.

Id.

A week later, the Court of Appeals issued Gucci Am., Inc. v. Li, 768 F.3d 122 (2d Cir.2014). Gucci does not support Respondent’s unwillingness to answer Plaintiffs* information requests any more than Daimler.

II. The Information Subpoena

Plaintiff seeks post-judgment discovery pertaining to Cuba’s foreign accounts “in order to decide whether to seek recognition of his judgment abroad and, if so, in which countries and against which banks.” See PI. Mem. Opp’n Mot. Recons., Vera v. Republic of Cuba, No. 12 Civ. 1596 (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 715 at 5-9 (“PL Opp’n”). The blocked assets in the United States are not likely to be sufficient to satisfy Plaintiffs’ judgments against Cuba.

Accordingly, on November 26, 2012, Plaintiff served an information subpoena (the “Subpoena”) on BBYA, pursuant to N.Y. C.P.L.R. §§ 5223 and 5224(a)(3),2 seeking information concerning assets in which Cuba may have an interest. The Subpoena sought such information from BBVA’s New York and international branches. Although BBVA has complied with the demands for information pertaining to its New York branch, it refuses to produce similar information from the New York branch regarding international account based on the assertion that this Court lacks personal jurisdiction with respect to information concerning those accounts.

III. Personal Jurisdiction Over Corporate Entities after Daimler and Gucci

A. General Rule: Minimum Contacts and Reasonableness

In order for a court to exercise personal jurisdiction over a corporate entity, due process requires that entity have enough contact with the forum for the exercise of jurisdiction to be reasonable. That is, the entity must have sufficient “minimum contacts” with the forum such that “maintenance of the suit does not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice”. Int’l Shoe Co. v.

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Bluebook (online)
91 F. Supp. 3d 561, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32846, 2015 WL 1244050, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vera-v-republic-of-cuba-nysd-2015.