## Facts

- Two Japanese corporations filed separate contract actions against the United States in the United States Court of Claims; the cases were consolidated on a threshold jurisdiction question.
- The government obtained a separate trial limited to whether 28 U.S.C. § 2502 permitted Japanese nationals to sue the United States in the Court of Claims.
- Section 2502 allows suits by foreign citizens only if their government accords U.S. citizens the right to prosecute claims against that government in its courts.
- At the jurisdictional trial, plaintiffs presented testimony from a Japanese attorney and a Japanese government official that U.S. citizens may sue the Government of Japan in Japanese courts and are treated no less favorably than Japanese nationals.
- The United States argued reciprocity was not shown because plaintiffs did not prove that an American citizen could bring the same type of suit—particularly a comparable breach-of-contract action against Japan—of the same scope as suits permitted against the United States.

## Issues

1. Whether 28 U.S.C. § 2502 requires proof that U.S. citizens can bring the same specific cause of action against the foreign government that the foreign plaintiff brings against the United States (“reciprocity in specie”).
2. Whether it is sufficient under § 2502 that U.S. citizens have equal access to the foreign government’s courts to prosecute claims against that government to the same extent as that government’s own nationals.

## Decision

- The Court of Claims held that § 2502 does not require reciprocity “in specie.”
- The court ruled that reciprocity is satisfied if U.S. citizens may prosecute claims against the foreign government in its courts on the same footing as that government’s own nationals, subject to the foreign sovereign’s own consent-to-suit limits.
- Because plaintiffs proved that American citizens are treated no less favorably than Japanese nationals in suits against the Government of Japan, § 2502’s reciprocity requirement was met.
- The court concluded it had jurisdiction over the Japanese plaintiffs’ suits; it did not decide the underlying contract merits.

## Legal Principles

- Under 28 U.S.C. § 2502, foreign nationals may sue the United States in the Court of Claims only if their government accords U.S. citizens the right to prosecute claims against that government in its courts.
- The reciprocity requirement concerns equal access to the foreign courts for claims against the foreign government, not identity between foreign and U.S. substantive causes of action or waivers of sovereign immunity.
- Reciprocity is satisfied where U.S. citizens may sue the foreign government to the same extent and under the same conditions as the foreign government permits its own nationals to sue it, even if the foreign government’s consent to be sued is narrower than the United States’ consent.

## Conclusion

The Court of Claims sustained jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 2502 because the Japanese plaintiffs showed that U.S. citizens have equal access to Japanese courts to prosecute claims against Japan, and § 2502 does not demand proof of an identical, U.S.-style cause of action against the foreign sovereign.


Nippon Hodo Co. v. United States, 285 F.2d 766 (Ct. Cl. 1961)