## Facts

- The trustees of the 2012 Saretta Barnet Revocable Trust consigned an ancient Greek bronze horse figurine to Sotheby’s in New York for auction.
- Greek cultural authorities learned of the planned auction and sent Sotheby’s an email asserting the figurine was Greek state property under Greek antiquities/patrimony statutes.
- Sotheby’s withdrew the figurine from the auction after receiving Greece’s claim.
- The trustees and Sotheby’s filed a federal action seeking only declaratory relief on ownership (no damages or injunction).
- Greece moved to dismiss on Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) grounds, asserting immunity.
- The district court denied dismissal, finding the FSIA commercial activity exception satisfied based on the letter and the auction withdrawal’s effect in the United States.

## Issues

1. Whether Greece’s email asserting ownership under Greek patrimony laws was an act “in connection with a commercial activity” for purposes of the FSIA commercial activity exception, 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(2).
2. If not, whether FSIA immunity deprived the federal courts of subject-matter jurisdiction over the declaratory judgment action.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit reversed the district court.
- Greece’s ownership assertion was connected to enactment and enforcement of patrimony laws, which are sovereign (governmental) acts, not commercial activity.
- Because the commercial activity exception did not apply, Greece was immune under the FSIA.
- The case was remanded with instructions to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.

## Legal Principles

- Under the FSIA, foreign states are presumptively immune from suit in U.S. courts unless a statutory exception applies.
- The commercial activity exception in § 1605(a)(2) requires, among other elements, that the challenged act be “in connection with a commercial activity” of the foreign state.
- Whether conduct is “commercial” turns on the nature of the act (sovereign power vs. private-market behavior), not on the commercial setting where effects are felt.
- A foreign state’s assertion of ownership based on domestic patrimony legislation is a sovereign act, even if it disrupts a private sale and produces economic consequences in the United States.

## Conclusion

The Second Circuit held that Greece’s patrimony-based claim to an antiquity was a sovereign enforcement action rather than commercial conduct, so the FSIA’s commercial activity exception did not supply jurisdiction and the declaratory ownership suit had to be dismissed.


Barnet v. Ministry of Culture & Sports of the Hellenic Republic, 961 F.3d 193 (2d Cir. 2020)