French Entities Immune to Suits Over Goods Seized Before Victims Sent to Concentration Camps, Judge Rules

Jewish victims whose property was confiscated in a French holding camp before they were sent by train to German concentration camps during World War II cannot bring suit in the Southern District of New York against France, the French national bank or the French railroad, a judge has ruled. Judge Richard Sullivan said the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act shields the French entities from suit in New York by victims and their heirs because they are "agencies or instrumentalities" of the French state.