Lisa Ballantine et al v Dominican Republic - United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Case No 20-7086 - Judgment - 22 October 2021
Country
Year
2021
Summary
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 1:19-cv-03598)
Before: KATSAS and RAO, Circuit Judges, and SILBERMAN, Senior Circuit Judge.
This appeal was considered on the record from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and on the briefs of the parties. The court has afforded the issues full consideration and has determined that they do not warrant a published opinion. See D.C. Cir. R. 36(d). For the following reasons, it is
ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the judgment of the district court be AFFIRMED.
This is a dispute over the proper service of a foreign state in a proceeding governed by the Federal Arbitration Act. Lisa and Michael Ballantine sought to arbitrate a real estate development dispute with the Dominican Republic before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Washington, D.C. That court determined that it had no jurisdiction over the case, since the Ballantines were predominantly Dominican citizens. The Ballantines then sought to vacate this arbitral award in federal district court. The district court denied the Ballantines’ petition to vacate because although the Ballantines attempted to serve the Dominican Republic in several ways, none of those methods were consistent with the statute governing service of a foreign state. We affirm.