Gould

We must decide whether a domestic subsidiary of a foreign government-owned corporation is entitled to a nonjury trial when named as a codefendant with its foreign state-owned parent in an action brought under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1330 , 1602-1611. We hold it is not. *

I

This action arose from a helicopter crash in northern Idaho. Defendant Societe Natio-nale Industrielle Aerospatiale, a French corporation owned by the government of France, designed and manufactured the helicopter. Defendant Aerospatiale Helicopter Corporation, a Delaware corporation with principal place of business in Texas, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the French manufacturer and distributes its products in the United States.

Thomas Gould brought this aetion in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington as the surviving spouse and personal representative of the estate of a victim of the crash under the Washington survival statutes, Wash.Rev. Code §§ 4.20.046, 4.20.060. Jurisdiction over the claim against the French manufacturer was based on 28 U.S.C. § 1330 (a). The complaint also named the domestic distributor and three citizens of…