Supreme Court won’t Revive Bolívar Artifacts Case

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Bolívar Artifacts case nixing

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review a Florida man’s petition to enforce a $17 million judgment against Venezuela over a collection of historical artifacts tied to South American revolutionary Gen. Simón Bolívar. The decision leaves intact a Third Circuit ruling that Venezuela retains sovereign immunity, barring the man’s efforts to attach shares in a company linked to Venezuelan oil assets.

Ricardo Devengoechea had sought to challenge how U.S. courts interpret implied waivers of sovereign immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA). His case revolved around claims that Venezuela misled him into surrendering a valuable collection of Bolívar’s artifacts, but the justices denied his petition without comment.

Sovereign Immunity at the Heart of the Dispute

The crux of Devengoechea’s petition was the legal standard for determining when a foreign country has impliedly waived its immunity under the FSIA. He argued for an objective standard, in which a country’s conduct demonstrates intent to waive immunity, rather than the Third Circuit’s subjective approach, which focuses on the country’s stated intent.