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Case Summary
Westfield v. Federal Republic of Germany
Westfield v. Federal Republic of Germany, No. 3:09-cv-0204 (D. Tenn. July 28, 2009), aff’d, 633 F.3d 409 (6th Cir. 2011).
Précis
In this case, which hinged on the definition and interpretation of an exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act ("FSIA"), Fred Westfield and other heirs of Walter Westfeld, a German-Jewish art dealer in the 1930s, sought to recover from Germany the value of his artworks and tapestries seized by the Nazis during World War II. The plaintiffs argued that
jurisdiction
The authority given by law to a court to try cases and rule on legal matters within a particular geographic area or over certain types of legal cases. It is vital to determine before a lawsuit is filed which court has jurisdiction. State courts have jurisdiction over matters within that state, and different levels of courts have jurisdiction over lawsuits involving different amounts of money (http://dictionary.law.com).
Associated Legal Decision(s)
Associated Statutes and/or Legislation
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