Vekuii RUKORO et al., Plaintiffs, v. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY, Defendant., No. 17 CV 62-LTS, United States District Court, S.D. New York. Signed March 6, 2019
Opinion & Order, LAURA TAYLOR SWAIN, United States District Judge
*1 Plaintiffs Vekuii Rukoro, Johannes Isaack, The Association of the Ovaherero Genocide in the USA Inc., and Barnabas Veraa Katuuo bring this putative class action on behalf of members and descendants of the Ovaherero and Nama indigenous peoples against the Federal Republic of Germany (“Germany”) for damages, declaratory, and other equitable relief arising from the genocide of thousands of Ovaherero and Nama people in German South West Africa, now modern day Namibia, from 1885 to 1909. Before the Court is Defendant Germany's motion, pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(2), to dismiss Plaintiffs' Amended Complaint (docket entry no. 39, the “AC”) for lack of subject matter and personal jurisdiction under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1330, 1602-1611 (“FSIA”). (Docket entry no. 42.) Germany also moves to dismiss the AC for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under the political question doctrine and, in the alternative, argues that the Court should decline to exercise both subject matter and personal jurisdiction pursuant to the doctrines of forum non conveniens and prudential exhaustion. On October 31, 2018, Plaintiffs filed a motion for leave to file a supplemental declaration or, in the alternative, to file a Second Amended Complaint. (Docket entry no. 61.) The Court has considered the submissions of the parties carefully and, for the following reasons, Germany's motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint is granted and Plaintiffs' motion for leave to file a supplemental declaration or a Second Amended Complaint is denied.
