U.S. Citizen With Dual Citizenship Is Not Considered A "Citizen . . . Of A Foriegn State" For Purposes Of Jurisdiction Under § 1332(a)(2)
VRENI BUCHEL-RUEGSEGGER v. BUCHEL (August 6, 2009)
Vreni Buchel-Ruegsegger and Georg Buchel were married in Wisconsin in 1951, where they lived until they moved to Switzerland in approximately 1990. Vreni Buchel-Ruegsegger is a dual citizen of the United States and Switzerland -- Georg Buchel is a dual citizen of the United States and Lichtenstein. In April of 2000, Buchel executed his final will and directed that his estate be divided according to Swiss law. Two months later, however, he ordered his bank to transfer 200,000 Swiss francs to his son John. John lived in Wisconsin with his family. Buchel died two days later. A Swiss court appointed Buchel-Ruegsegger as Buchel's personal representative, pursuant to which she sought to rescind the gift. The Swiss court ruled that she was entitled to 100,000 of the francs and that their daughter was entitled to 50,000 of the francs. When Buchel-Ruegsegger attempted to collect the money from her son, he refused. She filed suit in Wisconsin, alleging a conversion under state law. The district court concluded that John had converted the funds, since a Swiss court had determined that the gift was unlawful. John appeals.
In their opinion, Judges Manion, Rovner and Tinder vacated and remanded. The Court never reached the merits. It never got beyond jurisdiction. The statute under which Buchel-Ruegsegger brought the suit grants jurisdiction to claims between "citizens of a State and citizens or subjects of a foreign state." Here, a dual citizen of the United States and Switzerland has brought suit against a United States citizen. The Court cited its previous decision in Sadat, which held that a court should consider only the American nationality of a citizen of both the United States and a foreign country. Applying that rule, the court concluded that Buchel-Ruegsegger and John Buchel are both United States citizens and jurisdiction does not arise under § 1332(a)(2). The Court also considered whether it could have jurisdiction from another source. The only possible source here is diversity jurisdiction. Since an American citizen living abroad is not a citizen of any particular state for diversity purposes, that statute fails to provide jurisdiction as well. The court vacated with instructions to dismiss without prejudice.
