Second Circuit Asks NY Top Court for Help in Terrorism Case

The Second Circuit needs to decide whether it has jurisdiction over a bank that acquired a party in a suit involving terrorist rocket attacks in Israel and it asked New York’s high court for help figuring it out.

The plaintiff said that the Second Circuit had jurisdiction over Société Générale de Banque au Liban SAL as the successor of Lebanese Canadian Bank. But federal courts apply state laws to determine jurisdiction and the Wednesday opinion by Judge Susan L. Carney said that the plaintiffs’ theory raised a question that is unresolved in New York and the Second Circuit couldn’t predict ...