Dole Food Co. v. Patrickson Dead Sea Bromine Co. v. Patrickson
Dole Food Co. v. Patrickson
Dead Sea Bromine Co. v. Patrickson
Latin American banana workers brought a class action suit against multinational fruit and chemical companies alleged to have exposed the workers to a toxic pesticide. The workers brought suit in Hawaii state court. Defendants impleaded two Israeli chemical companies, which were, until recently, indirectly owned by the Israeli government. Defendants immediately removed the case to federal court pursuant to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and federal question jurisdiction. The district court denied plaintiff’s motion to remand and then dismissed the case for forum non conveniens. The appellate court reversed, holding that it did not have federal question jurisdiction and that the Israeli chemical companies were not instrumentalities of the Israeli government under the FSIA.
Questions Presented:
1. Whether a corporation is an ”agency or instrumentality” if a foreign state owns a majority of the shares of a corporate enterprise that in turn owns a majority of the shares of the
corporation.
2. Whether a corporation is an ”agency or instrumentality” if a foreign state owned a majority of the shares of the corporation at the time of the events giving rise to litigation, but
the foreign state does not own a majority of those shares at the time that a plaintiff commences a suit against the corporation.
