## Facts

- A building owner and its managing agent leased office space in Manhattan to the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Zaire to the United Nations for official mission use.
- The Mission fell behind on rent; the landlord obtained a default judgment terminating the lease, awarding possession, and awarding monetary damages.
- After the Mission paid the judgment, the landlord allowed it to remain as a month-to-month tenant; the Mission later defaulted again.
- The landlord terminated the month-to-month tenancy and sued in federal court for unpaid rent, attorneys’ fees, and possession.
- The district court granted summary judgment, awarded damages and possession, and authorized the U.S. Marshal to remove the Mission if it did not vacate.
- The Mission asserted that treaties protecting diplomatic and mission premises barred forcible eviction; the United States appeared as amicus curiae supporting that position.
- The district court’s eviction order was stayed pending appeal.

## Issues

1. Whether a federal court may order marshal-assisted, forcible eviction of a foreign state’s permanent mission to the United Nations from premises used for official mission purposes due to unpaid rent, consistent with U.S. treaty obligations.
2. Whether the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act permits such possessory enforcement or is constrained by treaties protecting the inviolability of mission premises.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit reversed the judgment to the extent it awarded possession and authorized forcible eviction.
- The court held that treaties guaranteeing the inviolability of mission premises prohibit enforcement measures that would physically dispossess the Mission without the sending state’s consent.
- The court distinguished recognition of a monetary claim from physical enforcement against mission premises; the eviction remedy was impermissible because it would require state agents to enter and remove the mission.

## Legal Principles

- Under applicable diplomatic and U.N.-related treaty obligations, mission premises are inviolable; agents of the receiving state may not enter or carry out enforcement measures against such premises without consent.
- Domestic landlord-tenant remedies, including possessory enforcement for nonpayment of rent, must yield when they conflict with controlling treaty-based immunities and established rules of international law binding on the United States.
- The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act does not abrogate or displace preexisting treaty commitments governing diplomatic immunity and the inviolability of mission premises.
- Reciprocity concerns are relevant: domestic disregard of treaty protections may expose U.S. diplomatic missions abroad to analogous measures and reduced legal protection.

## Conclusion

The court held that treaty-based inviolability of mission premises barred a landlord from using judicial process and marshal-assisted eviction to recover possession from a U.N. permanent mission, even in the face of substantial rent arrears, and reversed the district court’s possessory and forcible-eviction relief.


767 Third Ave. Assocs. v. Permanent Mission of the Republic of Zaire to the United Nations, 988 F.2d 295 (2d Cir. 1993)