Rubin v. Islamic Republic of Iran
United States Supreme Court
138 S. Ct. 816 (2018)
Jenny Rubin and other plaintiffs won a judgment against Iran (defendant) under the FSIA's terrorism exception and sought to attach a collection of Persian antiquities owned by Iran but housed at the University of Chicago to satisfy that judgment. The Seventh Circuit held the antiquities were immune from attachment, and the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve whether a separate FSIA provision (§ 1610(g)) independently authorized attachment regardless of the traditional Bancec factors governing corporate-entity property.
Whether property in the United States belonging to a foreign state is immune from attachment to satisfy judgments involving acts of terrorism unless an exception explicitly listed in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act applies.