Summary

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. 4:18-CV-1807

The historical narrative behind the arbitral award at issue in this case is exotic and complicated. Plaintiffs claim rights under a 1933 agreement between Standard Oil of California and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and a 1949 agreement between the purported ancestors of the plaintiffs and the Arabian American Oil Company. In this proceeding, the plaintiffs seek to enforce an arbitral award against defendant, Saudi Arabian Oil Company, which they were awarded by an Egyptian arbitration panel. Notwithstanding the complexity of the underlying historical facts, and notwithstanding the alleged shenanigans underlying the arbitration proceedings, we can resolve this appeal with clarity: there is no agreement for us to enforce, thus bringing this appeal to a quick end. Defendant Saudi Arabian Oil Company is an instrumentality of a foreign state and is therefore immune from suit under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1602-1611, which generally provides that federal courts have no jurisdiction over sovereigns. Consequently, we VACATE the judgment of the district court and REMAND this case with instructions to the district court to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.

• OGEL: Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. 4:18-CV-1807
• TDM: Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. 4:18-CV-1807