## Facts

- CNAN, an Algerian state-owned shipping company, entered a 1976 voyage charter with Amoco Transport to carry crude oil shipped from Egypt for delivery to Amoco Overseas, ultimately discharged in Curaçao.
- After discharge, Amoco entities alleged a short delivery of 34,094 net barrels and sought recovery for missing cargo and unearned freight.
- Before the shortage was discovered, freight payments were placed with Amoco’s New York broker (Poten) and credited to CNAN in Poten’s account at a New York bank.
- Amoco filed a quasi in rem action in the Southern District of New York and obtained an attachment targeting the New York bank funds under Supplemental Rule B and New York attachment law.
- Amoco failed to complete a New York statutory step for perfecting the attachment within the prescribed period, and CNAN did not appear; the court entered a default judgment.
- When Amoco sought to execute, the bank refused payment based on the state-law perfection defect; the court then issued a new attachment order and entered an amended judgment directed at the bank funds.
- CNAN appeared and moved under Rules 55(c) and 60(b) to set aside the default and amended judgment, arguing lack of jurisdiction (including FSIA and due process limits on quasi in rem jurisdiction after Shaffer) and excusable neglect.

## Issues

1. Whether the district court had quasi in rem jurisdiction to enter the default and amended judgment based on CNAN’s New York bank funds, despite noncompliance with state-law attachment perfection requirements and after Shaffer’s due process standard.
2. Whether CNAN’s status as a foreign-state instrumentality barred suit or attachment/execution under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
3. Whether CNAN was entitled to relief from the default and amended judgment under Rule 60(b), including on the ground that the judgment was void or based on mistake or excusable neglect.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit affirmed the order denying CNAN’s Rule 60(b) motion.
- The court held that the district court had a sufficient jurisdictional basis to enter and enforce the quasi in rem judgments against the attached New York bank funds.
- The court rejected CNAN’s FSIA and due process challenges as grounds to treat the default judgment as void.
- The court found no abuse of discretion in denying relief based on mistake, inadvertence, or excusable neglect.

## Legal Principles

- A judgment is “void” under Rule 60(b)(4) only for a total absence of jurisdiction or a fundamental due process defect; technical or arguable procedural errors do not suffice.
- Quasi in rem jurisdiction based on attachment of in-forum property may satisfy due process post-Shaffer when the defendant and the underlying transaction have sufficient forum contacts related to the attached property.
- Procedural defects in state attachment perfection, especially when later cured by renewed process bringing the res under the court’s control, do not necessarily negate jurisdiction or require vacatur of a default judgment.
- Under the FSIA, a foreign-state instrumentality engaged in commercial activity with substantial U.S. contacts may be subject to suit, and commercial property connected to the transaction (including bank funds) may be subject to attachment/execution consistent with the statute.

## Conclusion

The Second Circuit left the default and amended judgments in place, concluding that the attachment of CNAN’s New York bank funds provided a constitutionally and statutorily adequate jurisdictional basis and that CNAN failed to meet the demanding standards for Rule 60(b) relief.


Amoco Overseas Oil Co. v. Compagnie Nationale Algerienne de Navigation, 605 F.2d 648 (2d Cir. 1979)