Ahmad Chalabi — who some say played a crucial role in prompting the U.S. invasion of Iraq — today lost a legal battle against another Middle Eastern state, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Chalabi alleged that Jordan committed torts and violated the Racketeer-Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act when in 1989 the kingdom seized Petra Bank, which Chalabi founded a dozen years earlier. The district court sidestepped a gnarly question about jurisdiction under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and granted a motion to dismiss on the ground that the applicable statutes of limitations expired years before Chalibi filed suit in 2004. The D.C. Circuit affirmed, holding that the district court properly put the limitations issue before the jurisdictional one and rejecting Chalabi's "continuing tort" riposte to the you-sued-too-late defense. Chalabi v. Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, No. 07-7141 (D.C. Cir. Oct. 27, 2008).
