The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has held that the International Finance Corporation (IFC) is entitled to “absolute immunity” from lawsuits brought by communities harmed by IFC projects, in Budha Ismail Jam v. IFC. The case against the IFC, the World Bank Group’s private lending arm, seeks a remedy for IFC’s funding of a controversial power plant that has devastated fishing communities in India.

In a decision issued Friday, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit concluded that previous decisions concerning international organizations like the IFC required the court to find immunity in this case. One of the judges, however, wrote separately, expressing strong disagreement with IFC immunity...

“This decision tells the world that the doors of justice are not open to the poor and marginalized when it comes to powerful institutions like IFC,” said Gajendrasinh Jadeja, the head of Navinal Panchayat, a local village involved in the case...

The plaintiffs plan to challenge the decision by following Judge Pillard’s suggestion and requesting the court re-hear the case “en banc” - in front of all the D.C. Circuit judges instead of a three-judge panel. Other federal courts have disagreed with the D.C. Circuit’s approach, which gives organizations like the IFC even greater immunities than sovereign foreign governments.