Iraq responds to Wye Oak petition in US Supreme Court, 23 MARCH

 By John Lee.

The Republic of Iraq has responded to a petition from American defense contractor Wye Oak Technology, which had has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review its long-running legal dispute with Iraq.

The case stems from a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in July 2024, overturning a previous decision that had granted Wye Oak more than $120 million in damages against the Republic of Iraq and the Iraqi Ministry of Defense.

Wye Oak's petition for a writ of certiorari, filed on 14th January, 2025, seeks to overturn the lower court's ruling.

The case involves the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) , and concerns two legal issues regarding whether a foreign state can be sued in a U.S. court for an alleged breach of contract:

1. Iraq argues that Wye Oak's claim of a circuit split (disagreement among different courts) is incorrect, as no court rejects this approach;
2. Iraq also claims that Wye Oak's assertion of a circuit split is mistaken, as the Fourth Circuit's contrary decision was wrong and superseded by a Supreme Court ruling (Sachs, 2015).

Neal Kumar Katyal of Hogan Lovells US LLP represents Wye Oak Technology, while Boaz S. Morag of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP represents the Republic of Iraq.

The original ruling would have reimbursed Wye Oak for alleged unpaid invoices relating to work done for the Iraqi Ministry of Defense.

Dale Stoffel, the President of Wye Oak Technology, was killed in mysterious circumstances twenty years ago while attempting to recover the debt.