[5] In an 1892 revolution, General José Manuel "Mocho" Hernández expelled the existing Venezuelan government and took control of Ciudad Bolívar, where plaintiff Underhill lived and ran a waterworks system for the city.
Hernández finally relented and allowed Underhill to return to the United States, where he instituted an action to recover damages for his detention in Venezuela.
In finding for the defendant, a New York Court determined that Hernández had acted in his official capacity as a military commander so his actions were those of the Venezuelan government.
The Sabbatino court reformulated the basis for the act of state doctrine emphasizing that it has "constitutional underpinnings" in the concept of separation of powers.
Mark Feldman Oral History, Association for diplomatic Studies and Training p. 50 https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Feldman.Mark.pdf?swcfpc=1 In response to the outcome of the case, Congress enacted 22 U.S.C.
Generally, under the Hickenlooper Amendment, courts are not to apply the act of state doctrine as a bar against hearing cases of expropriation by a foreign sovereign.