EMBASSY OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY [in Washington]
Washington, USA
December 13, 2001
posted on de.soc.weltanschauung.scientology December 13, 2001Gz: RK
Note Nr.: /2001Verbal note
The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany communicated to the US State Department its recommendations concerning the basis of the lawsuit filed by Mr. Hubert Heller, complainant, against Mrs. Ursula Caberta, defendant, in the US Federal District Court, district of central Florida, Tampa court district, file number 8:00-CV-1528-T-27C. The Embassy directed attention to the fact that Caberta, a member of the German state, holds a position with the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany.The subject of the complaint is devoted entirely to the activities of Mrs. Caberta or her staff in Germany in their official capacities as staff of the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.
Mrs. Caberta has consistently maintained that she is not the correct party against whom a complaint should be filed and has indicated that she is an agency employee so that, if a suit were to be filed, the proper addressee would be the Interior Senator at the Hamburg Senate. The State Court in Hamburg would have jurisdiction over the matter.
Based on the fact that the complaint may only be validly directed to the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the Federal Republic of Germany, representing the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in accordance with international law, invokes state immunity and requests immediate withdrawal of the complaint. A court in the United States does not have jurisdiction in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in the Federal Republic of Germany, and is not in the position to institute court proceedings there.
The Federal Republic of Germany does not intend to waive its immunity, and, in accordance with international law, it does not appear as a defendant or as a party to a defendant in a foreign court of law.
The Federal Republic of Germany requests the esteemed State Department to intervene in a timely manner so that the legal complaint, in accordance with the principles of international law - as detailed above - will be withdrawn.
A copy of this verbal note will be made available to Mrs. Caberta by a legal representative of the court. She has been instructed by her Hamburg agency not to appear before the court in Tampa.
The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany seizes this opportunity to convey anew its highest esteem to the US State Department.
Washington, [date removed] 2001