U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. Cir. Vacates District Court Judgment Based on Lack of Jurisdiction [1]
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On April 14, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decided that “the district court lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendants” in Shabtai Scott Shatsky et al. v. Palestine Liberation Organization, et al [3]. The suit was brought by “[t]he American victims of a 2002 suicide bombing in the West Bank and their families” against the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority. To make its decision, the Court of Appeals (CA) reviewed whether or not the summary judgment issued by the district court was final (and therefore appealable), the Palestinian defendants’ lack of a cross-appeal regarding the district court’s personal jurisdiction over them, and finally, whether the district court did have personal jurisdiction over them. Regarding the finality and appealability of the judgment, the appellants’ original case was against the current appellees and two others (Syrian defendants and 99 Doe defendants); however, the appellants had dropped the claim against the Syrian defendants in 2005 and the Doe defendants had never been served. Given the circumstances under which the other appellees were removed from the original suit, the Court found that the district court’s judgment was final and that the CA therefore had jurisdiction. Regarding the issue of cross-appeal, it found that “exceptional circumstances excuse the Palestinian Defendants’ failure to cross-appeal the question of personal jurisdiction”; specifically, that they had stopped litigating on a personal jurisdiction-basis only after their arguments were repeatedly denied by the district court. Finally, the Court ruled that “the Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act does not provide a basis for exercising general personal jurisdiction over either the Palestinian Authority or the PLO.” Based on all of the above, the Court “vacate[d] the district court’s judgment and remand[ed] with instructions to dismiss the case without prejudice for lack of jurisdiction.”