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Squire Sanders and Cleary Gottleb Achieve Victory in American Court for Balkan Countries

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The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has affirmed a grant of summary judgment against a Serbian entity and in favor of the Republics of Croatia and Slovenia, represented by Squire Sanders and Dempsey and Cleary Gottlieb, respectively.

The summary judgment requires that funds held at a New York bank in the name of the Federal Directorate of Supply and Procurement (FDSP), an entity organized under the laws of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), be distributed to SFRY’s successor states according to percentages established in a multilateral treaty signed by the SFRY successor states in 2001 (the Succession Agreement). 

The dispute arose when a Serbian entity claimed the right to receive all the funds as FDSP’s successor in interest under Serbian law. The Serbian entity unsuccessfully argued, among other things, that FDSP was a separately incorporated entity under SFRY law and not a government agency or department. The FDSP funds were frozen, pursuant to US presidential executive order, in 1992 during the Bosnian War. 

Squire Sanders Partner Richard Mattiaccio led the team representing the Republic of Croatia, while Counsel Boaz Morag led the Cleary Gottlieb team representing Slovenia. The decision can be found at: Yugoimport v. Republic of Croatia, Republic of Slovenia, 11-1990-cv (2nd Cir. February 10, 2014).

(Thanks to Shannon Miller for assisting with this item).

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