Galette v. NJ Transit, No. 4 EAP 2024 (Pa. Superior Ct., March 11, 2025) (Brobson, J.) Appellee Cedric Galette (Galette) initiated a negligence action against Julie McCrey (McCrey) and Appellant New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit) in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County (trial court). NJ Transit is an “instrumentality” of the State of […]

Republic of Hungary v. Simon, 2025 U.S. LEXIS 549 (U.S. Supreme Court, February 21, 2025) (Sotomayer, J.) The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (FSIA) provides foreign states with presumptive immunity from suit in the United States. 28 U. S. C. §1604. To sue a foreign sovereign in United States courts, plaintiffs must satisfy one […]

Brown-Boyd v. Se. Pa. Transp. Auth., 2024 Pa. LEXIS 168 (Cmmw. Crt. Pa. July 15, 2024) (Wallace, J.) Brown-Boyd v. Se. Pa. Transp. Auth., Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania decided, July 15, 2024. SEPTA appeals in the Court of Common Pleas which deny their motion for summary judgment because it fell that Brown-Boyd’s negligence action fell […]

Pritchard v. Meintel, 2024 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 13 (January 10, 2024) (Cohn Jubelirer, J.). This was a slip and fall case in a prison. The lower court found that it did not fall within the real estate exception of sovereign immunity. Hence, the case was dismissed. A dangerous condition resulting from a defect in the […]

OI European Grp. B.V. v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Petroleos de Venezuela, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 17123 (3d Cir.), 2023 WL 4385930. The FSIA provides that foreign states are immune from jurisdiction of American courts subject only to exceptions in international agreements and the FSIA itself. In this case, the court found that concerning the […]

Galette v. NJ Transit, 2023 Pa. Super. LEXIS 111 (March 21, 2023) (Bowes, J.) New Jersey Transit Corporation (“NJ Transit”) appeals the September 27, 2021 denial of its motion to dismiss the negligence claims of Cedric Galette pursuant to the doctrine of sovereign immunity. We affirm. This controversy stems from an August 9, 2018 incident […]

Kirtz v. Trans Union LLC, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 23684 (3rd Cir. August 24, 2022) (Krause, C.J.)  There are profound implications to throwing open the doors to the United States Treasury, so before we do, we need to be sure that is what Congress intended. Here, the District Court dismissed Appellant Reginald Kirtz’s lawsuit against […]

Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Found., 2022 U.S. LEXIS 2097, (S. Ct. April 21, 2022) (Kagan, J.)  Justice Kagan delivered the opinion of the Court. Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (FSIA), 28 U. S. C. §1602 et seq., a foreign state or instrumentality is amenable in specified circumstances to suit in an American […]

Soverign Immunity and an Indemnification Clause Lewis v. Clarke, 2017 U.S. LEXIS 2796, 581 U.S. ___ (April 25, 2017) Sotomayor, J. We have never before had occasion to decide whether an indemnification clause is sufficient to extend a sovereign immunity defense to a suit against an employee in his individual capacity. We hold that an […]