Kalmich v. Bruno
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
553 F.2d 549 (1977)
- Written by Salina Kennedy, JD
Facts
Hayim Kalmich (plaintiff), a Jewish businessman, owned a textile manufacturing business in Yugoslavia. After the Nazis conquered and occupied Yugoslavia in 1941, Kalmich’s business was seized and Karl Bruno (defendant) was installed as its manager. Bruno later purchased the business from the occupying government at a substantially reduced price and resold it to a third party. Prior to the end of World War II, Bruno fled Yugoslavia. After the war, Kalmich spent significant time and money in an unsuccessful attempt to find Bruno. In 1972, Kalmich, by then a Canadian resident, learned that Bruno was living in Chicago, Illinois. Kalmich sued Bruno in federal district court for damages related to the seizure of his business. The district court dismissed the complaint for failing to state a cause of action because the Illinois statute of limitations had run. Kalmich then sought reversal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The Seventh Circuit held that the substantive law of Yugoslavia applied in this case, and it then considered whether to apply Yugoslavia’s perpetual statute of limitations or Illinois’s five-year statute of limitations.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Pell, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.