Saudi Arabia v. Nelson

Scott Nelson (plaintiff), an American recruited in the U.S. by a Saudi-government-owned hospital, discovered and repeatedly reported safety defects in the hospital's oxygen and nitrous-oxide lines, after which Saudi Arabia (defendant) had him arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and forced to sign an Arabic confession he couldn't read; his wife (plaintiff) was separately told she could arrange his release by providing sexual favors. The Nelsons sued Saudi Arabia in U.S. federal court, and while the district court found no jurisdiction under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), the court of appeals reversed, reasoning Nelson's recruitment and hiring were commercial activities carried out in the U.S. and that his torture was sufficiently connected to those commercial activities.