Facts

In 2004, Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States, a religious organization, filed suit against the Russian Federation, the Russian Ministry of Culture, the Russian State Library and the Russian Military Archive to recover a collection of Jewish books and manuscripts seized during the Bolshevik Revolution and World War II.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
The organization alleged violations under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, contending that the Russian government unlawfully seized the religious writings, invalidly withholding them from the proper ownership.

Result

After Chabad established jurisdiction over defendants through a successful appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States v. Russian Federation, 528 F.3d 934 (D.C. Cir. 2008), defendants withdrew from the case. The district court then entered a default judgment against defendants, and ordered the Russian government to surrender the property to the U.S. Embassy.