Alienage Jurisdiction Over Stateless Corporations: Revealing the Folly of Matimak Trading Company v. Khalily

The United States of America will enter the new millennium as the business leader of the world, but for how long will it be able to maintain this position? If the final years of the twentieth century are an indication of things to come, it is apparent that geographical and political borders will become even more irrelevant to the scope of business transactions. The increase in the number of offshore corporations\u27 doing business on an international scale is evidence that the world\u27s business leaders will readily change their locale in order to increase profits. Increasingly popular offshore jurisdictions, such as the Bahamas, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, and the Cayman Islands, offer many business advantages to corporations that conduct their operations on an international scale.2 The number of business transactions involving parties from the United States and these offshore corporations will continue to increase as the global economy grows. One unavoidable consequence of increased interaction between citizens of the United States and these foreign businesses will be an increase in legal disputes involving parties from foreign countries. Often, the foreign party may wish to have the dispute heard in the federal courts of the United States. If foreign parties find that they lack access to a federal forum, they may be less inclined to conduct business with the citizens of the United States. Alternatively, if a U.S. company discovers that it would not be able to enforce its legal rights against a foreign party in the federal courts, it may limit the scope of its international transactions to more stable, though less profitable, endeavors. Therefore, if the United States wishes to maintain its status as a leader in international business, it should consider removing any obstacles that deny foreign parties access to a federal forum