Swarna v. Al-Awadi

Before: MINER, CABRANES, and WESLEY, Circuit Judges.

Defendants-appellants Badar Al-Awadi (“Al-Awadi”) and his wife Halal Muhammad AlShaitan (“Al-Shaitan,” or, together with Al-Awadi, the “individual defendants”) appeal from interlocutory orders entered on March 20, 2009, and May 29, 2009, and plaintiff-appellee-cross-appellant Vishranthamma Swarna (“Swarna”) cross-appeals from a final judgment entered on July 24, 2009, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b), in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Castel, J.). The District Court granted Swarna’s motion for default judgment against the individual defendants for claims brought pursuant to the Alien Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1350, alleging trafficking, involuntary servitude, forced labor, assault, and sexual abuse (the “ATCA claims”), and for claims brought pursuant to New York State law, alleging fraud, unjust enrichment, breach of contract, and failure to pay legally required wages (the “state law claims”). The District Court determined that the individual defendants’ default was willful, that their defense of diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations [hereinafter "Vienna Convention"], Apr. 18, 1961, 23 U.S.T. 3227, T.I.A.S. No. 7502 (entered into force in U.S. Dec. 13, 1972), was without merit, and that Swarna would suffer considerable prejudice if a default judgment were denied. The District Court dismissed Swarna’s ATCA and state law claims against defendant-cross-appellee the State of Kuwait (“Kuwait”) on sovereign-immunity grounds, pursuant to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (“FSIA”), Pub. L. No. 94-583, 90 Stat. 2891 (Oct. 21, 1976) (codified at 28 U.S.C. §§ 1330, 1332, 1391(f), 1441(d), 1602–11). The District Court denied both Swarna’s and the individual defendants’ subsequent motions for reconsideration, the court having adhered to the conclusions stated in its prior order granting Swarna’s motion for default judgment as to the individual defendants and denying the same as to Kuwait. See Swarna v. AlAwadi, 607 F. Supp. 2d 509 (S.D.N.Y. 2009).