FMC ORDERS RE-FILING OF BRIEFS IN MPA’s ‘sOVERIGN IMMUNITY? CLAIM

FMC ORDERS RE-FILING OF BRIEFS IN MPAÆS æSOVERIGN IMMUNITYÆ CLAIM    The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission Friday ordered Ceres Marine Terminals Inc., and the Maryland Port Administration to submit follow-up legal briefs in a dispute involving a claim of sovereign immunity by MPA.
   “Before the commission can resolve this proceeding, we must determine whether MPA is an arm of the state and, in the event that it is, whether it has waived its immunity,” the FMC said in a statement.
   Ceres Marine Terminals has argued that MPA, even if it is an arm of the state of Maryland — as MPA claims — waived its immunity in Ceres’ leasing agreement.
   Last October, the FMC had put the Ceres-MPA dispute on hold, pending an expected Supreme Court ruling on the issue of sovereign immunity.
   On May 28, the high court ruled that the 11th Amendment and principles of state sovereign immunity bar proceedings begun by a private person or entity against a state-run port.
   The FMC’s new order requires Ceres Marine Terminals and the MPA each to file, within 30 days, “a brief of not more than 20 pages … in reply to the opening briefs submitted Oct. 1, 2001.”