Supreme Court Grants Cert in Foreign Property Attachment Case

The Federal Civil Practice bulletin has recently added a post, which can be access here, regarding the Supreme Court’s granting of cert. in Ministry of Defense and Support for Armed Forces of Islamic Republic of Iran v. Elahi. This case involves a dispute between the Iranian Ministry of Defense and the holders of U.S. default judgments against Iran who want to execute their judgments or attach property located in the U.S. According to the BNA’s summary the question is, “Is an attachment against foreign sovereign property permissible when that property is ‘at issue in claims against the U.S. before an international tribunal,’ and the property is not a ‘blocked asset,’ under terms of the 2000 Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act and 2002 Terrorism Risk Insurance Act?”  --Counseller/md