Milestones: Calderon-Cardona v. Bank of N.Y. Mellon, 770 F.3d 993 (2d Cir. 2014)

Summary:

Plaintiffs are victims of a terrorist attack carried out by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Japanese Red Army. The plaintiffs sued North Korea claiming that North Korea provided support for the attack, and obtained a default judgment of $378 million. To enforce the judgment, the plaintiffs attempted to restrain the North Korean property held in New York banks.

The court found that, because North Korea was not designated as a state sponsor of terrorism at the time when the judgment was entered, the exception in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act did not apply.

Takeaway:

How often do you see a case involving North Korea? This is a good example to show that the decisions of the political branches matter a great deal to judicial decisions.