ARCHITECTURAL INGENIERIA SIGLO XXI, LLC, a Florida limited liability company, SUN LAND & RGITC LLC, a Florida limited liability company f.k.a. Sun Land RGITC, Co., Plaintiffs—Appellees, versus DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, a foreign state, INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE RECURSOS HIDRAULICOS, a foreign government agency, Defendants—Appellants., 788 F.3d 1329

Summary

HOLDINGS: [1]-It was error to deny a foreign nation's Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(4) motion to vacate for voidness a default judgment because the damages awarded were partially based on three addenda and an amendment, which were not properly executed amendments of the purchase agreement or the protocol; [2]-The district court did not err in concluding that the foreign nation's waiver of sovereign immunity extended to the protocol because the purchase agreement's waiver of sovereign immunity reached the construction project at the heart of the action, and the protocol constituted a transaction contemplated by the agreement; [3]-The foreign nation was not amenable to suit in federal court for its alleged breach of the three addenda and the amendment under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act's commercial-activity exception; [4]-It was an abuse of discretion to deny the Rule 60(b)(1) motion.