Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. v. ENC Corp.

In this interpleader action, appeal is made by the several parties dissatisfied with the decision of the district court awarding the funds in dispute to the Class of Human Rights Victims represented by Mariano Pimental (Pimental). We hold that the Republic of the Philippines and the Presidential Commission on Good Government (the PCGG) (collectively, the Republic) are not indispensable parties under Fed.R.Civ.P. 19(b). We affirm the judg *1023 ment of the district court as modified below.

PARTIES AND PROCEEDINGS

Interpleader was begun on September 21, 2000 by Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. (Merrill Lynch), the custodian of the assets of Arelma, S.A. (Arelma), now amounting to approximately $35 million. The Merrill Lynch account was found by the district court to have been established in 1992 by a deposit of $2 million by Ferdinand E. Marcos, then the president of the Republic. The shares of Arelma, a Panamanian corporation, are now held in escrow by the Philippine National Bank, pending an ownership determination by the Philippine courts.

The Republic was made a defendant in the interpleader and successfully asserted its sovereign immunity. In re Republic of the…