Ungaro-Benages v. Dresdner Bank AG - 379 F.3d 1227 (11th Cir. 2004)

Rule:

The analysis for both retrospective or prospective applications of international comity embody similar concerns with foreign governments' interests, fair procedures, and American public policy, but they emphasize different issues. When applied retrospectively, federal courts evaluate three factors: (1) whether the foreign court was competent and used proceedings consistent with civilized jurisprudence, (2) whether the judgment was rendered by fraud, and (3) whether the foreign judgment was prejudicial because it violated American public policy notions of what is decent and just. Courts also consider whether the central issue in dispute is a matter of foreign law and whether there is a prospect of conflicting judgments.

Facts:

Plaintiff-appellant, Ursula Ungaro-Benages, filed suit against two German banks, Dresdner Bank and Deutsche Bank, to recover assets from her family's estate. Ungaro-Benages alleged that the banks, through the Nazi Regime's program of "Aryanization," stole her family's interest in its manufacturing company, Orenstein & Koppel ("O&K"). The district court granted summary judgment for the defendant banks on multiple grounds, including the political question doctrine, international comity grounds under the Agreement Concerning the Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future," July 17, 2000, U.S.-F.R.G., 39 I.L.M. 1298, statute of limitations and failure to state a claim.

Issue:

Did the district court err in dismissing the case based on international comity grounds in favor of resolution at the Foundation?

Answer:

No.

Conclusion:

The appellate court disagreed with the district court's finding that the case implicated American foreign relations and, thus, was a political question, non-justiciable in domestic courts. The United States and Germany had an interest in using the Foundation. The United States had consistently supported the Foundation as the exclusive forum for the resolution of litigation against German corporations related to their acts during the Nazi era. The compensation fund was established with the expectation that all such American litigation would be resolved at the Foundation, which specialized in relevant post-war law and had relaxed standards of proof. It offered an adequate remedy, even if it could not provide as large of an award. Ungaro-Benages could argue to the Foundation that the banks prevented her family from pursuing their property claims after the war. The Agreement was not an independent legal basis for dismissal, the governments' ongoing interests in settling claims from the Nazi era were taken into account in the international comity analysis. The relevant events happened in Germany and involve German law issues.