Menon v. Weils

Mrs. Esterya Menon, the estranged wife of a United Nations field worker of Indian nationality, had instituted actions for support and maintenance against officials of the United Nations Headquarters staff.

The United States Attorney General requested the New York Civil Court to dismiss the case, since the United Nations officials enjoy immunity from legal process under the applicable treaty provisions.

The Court upheld the request e dismissed the case. In particular, the Court held that “A suggestion of sovereign immunity such as this one, presented to a court by the Department of State through the Attorney General and his local representative, “should be accepted by the court without further inquiry”, even against a claim of prior waiver, or that the assertion of immunity violates an adversary’s constitutional rights. The request “must be accepted by the courts as a conclusive determination” and all further judicial intervention must ceased. A different situation is presented where the immunity claim is asserted not by the Department of State but by the alleged sovereign entity itself; in that instance the court can inquire whether the activity is governmental or commercial ( jus imperii or jus gestionis) and proceed on the merits in the latter case”.