Jam v. International Finance Corp.
| Jam v. International Finance Corp. | |
|---|---|
| Argued October 31, 2018 Decided February 27, 2019 | |
| Full case name | Jam et al. v. International Finance Corp. |
| Docket no. | 17-1011 |
| Citations | 586 U.S. ___ (more) 139 S. Ct. 759; 203 L. Ed. 2d 53 |
| Argument | Oral argument |
| Case history | |
| Prior | |
| Subsequent | Remanded, 760 F. App'x 11 (D.C. Cir. 2019) |
| Holding | |
| The International Organizations Immunities Act grants international organizations the same immunity from suit that foreign governments have under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Roberts, joined by Thomas, Ginsburg, Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch |
| Dissent | Breyer |
| Kavanaugh took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
| Laws applied | |
| International Organizations Immunities Act, Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act | |
Jam v. International Finance Corp., 586 U.S. ___ (2019), was a United States Supreme Court case from the October 2018 term. The Supreme Court ruled that international organizations, such as the World Bank Group's financing arm, the International Finance Corporation, can be sued in US federal courts for conduct arising from their commercial activities. It specifically held that international organizations shared the same sovereign immunity as foreign governments. This was a reversal from existing jurisprudence, which held that international organizations (unlike foreign governments) had near-absolute immunity from lawsuits under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and the International Organizations Immunities Act.
This case is notable because for the first time the Court established that US-based international organizations, such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, could be sued if their overseas investment activities caused harm in local communities. It overturned a decades-old standard established in the aftermath of World War II when newly-formed international agencies were first being established with headquarters in the United States.