Abelesz v. Magyar Nemzeti Bank

In action by plaintiff-Holocaust survivors and victims against defendants-Hungarian national bank and national railway seeking under expropriation exception to Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act over $75 billion on allegations that defendants participated in expropriating property from Hungarian Jews during World War II, Dist. Ct. erred in denying defendants' motion to dismiss after finding that plaintiffs' allegations were sufficient to assert expropriation exception to FSIA. Under expropriation exception to FSIA, plaintiffs were required to show that they exhausted their Hungarian remedies or that there was compelling reason for their failure to do so, and that remand was required for plaintiffs to establish any exhaustion of remedies. Plaintiffs also failed to establish that defendant national railway was engaged in any commercial activity in U.S. so as to apply expropriation exception to FSIA. Ct. further found that Dist. Ct.'s denials of instant motions to dismiss were appealable as collateral orders under 28 USC section 1291.