Powerex Corp. v. Reliant Energy Services, Inc. (2006)
- Docket
- 05-85
- Decided
- 2006-01-01
Summary
Question: 1) Does an entity whose shares are wholly owned by a governmental corporation that acts on behalf of a foreign state qualify as an "organ of a foreign state" for purposes of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 and therefore have sovereign immunity? 2) Did the Court of Appeals have jurisdiction to review the District Court's order sending the case back to state court? Conclusion: Unanswered and no. In an opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Court ruled 7-2 that the Ninth Circuit lacked jurisdiction to review the District Court's remand order. The Court relied on 28 U.S.C. 1447(d), which precludes appellate review of remands based on lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The District Court remanded the case because it found itself lacking the power to adjudicate the dispute after it determined that Powerex was not a foreign sovereign and thus could not remove the case to federal court. Since "the District Court relied upon a ground that is colorably characterized as subject-matter jurisdiction," the remand could not be reviewed on appeal. The Court ruled that Section 1447(d) clearly applied to FSIA sovereign immunity cases, and rejected the argument that Congress could not have intended to deny review of remand orders in such cases. The Court acknowledged that Section 1447(d) had "undesirable consequences in the FSIA context," but it said a change of the law in the internationally sensitive area of sovereign immunity would have to be left to Congress. Justice Stephen G. Breyer's dissent argued that there is an implicit exception for FSIA in Section 1447(d).