Chinese state-backed corporations beat US lawsuits with sovereign immunity

boing
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Seems like American companies or the govt they control should definitely not be able to sue nationalised industries in countries that got em like ever. And if some people gotta die of drywall fuck em it’s worth it

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  1. Each Party shall provide its courts with jurisdiction over civil claims against an enterprise owned or controlled through ownership interests by a foreign government based on a commercial activity carried on in its territory.15 This shall not be construed to require a Party to provide jurisdiction over such claims if it does not provide jurisdiction over similar claims against enterprises that are not owned or controlled through ownership interests by a foreign government.

I think this kills sovereign immunity, but I’m not sure.

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I don’t think that Yves was claiming that China was party to the TPP; just noting the potential for excitingly ghastly synergies if such a state/corporate hybrid were to be set loose under a TPP-or-equivalent arrangement; given that it would be effectively immune to civil actions itself; but able to bring them against just about anyone and everyone who tried to get in its way.

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Foreign subsidiaries wouldn’t work. Dole v. Patrickson holds that a company must have a majority of shares directly owned by a government for sovereign immunity to imply.

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Reflecting on things a bit, the hypothetical

We can devastate your environment and abuse your workers, [and] enjoy sovereign legal immunity for doing so

actually strikes me as unlikely. 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(2) specifically excludes sovereign immunity from applying if a foreign state is engaging in commercial activity within the United States*, and I find it hard to picture how a foreign state-owned company could abuse our workers without also operating in the US. Ditto for direct environmental damage, the Chinese government can’t just open factories in Alabama that belch smoke with impunity.

*CNBM claims the immunity exception doesn’t apply because the drywall they made was sold to an independent intermediary who then resold the defective drywall in the US.

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