Exceptional Judgments: Revising the Terrorism Exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act

• Published in: The Yale law journal Vol. 127; no. 7; pp. 1890 - 1915
• Main Authors: BISSELL, E. PEROT, SCHOTTENFELD, JOSEPH R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Haven The Yale Law Journal Company, Inc 01-05-2018; Yale University, School of Law; Yale Law Journal Company, Inc
• Subjects: Aiding and abetting; COMMENT; Court decisions; Courts; DAMAGES; Default; Default judgments; Defendants; Enforcement; Federal court decisions; Federal legislation; Government liability; Immunities of foreign states; INTERNATIONAL LAW; Law and legislation; Laws, regulations and rules; Limitations of damages; Plaintiffs; Political aspects; Privileges & immunities; Punitive damages; Relatives; Remedies; Settlements & damages; SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY; State court decisions; State sponsored terrorism; TERRORISM; TORTS; Victims; UNITED STATES; United States > US
• ISSN: 0044-0094; 1939-8611

In 2016, family members of victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks sued Iran in the Southern District of New York for aiding and abetting al Qaeda in the perpetration of those attacks. They proceeded under the terrorism exception to foreign sovereign immunity, which allows plaintiffs to sue foreign nations appearing on the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism. When Iran failed to appear in court, a judge awarded the class a default judgment of $1.8 billion in damages. The massive judgment was consistent with other terrorism exception judgments against Iran; to date, plaintiffs have won at least $50 billion in default judgments of this kind.
In 2016, family members of victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks sued Iran in the Southern District of New York for aiding and abetting al Qaeda in the perpetration of those attacks. They proceeded under the terrorism exception to foreign sovereign immunity, which allows plaintiffs to sue foreign nations appearing on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism. When Iran failed to appear in court, a judge awarded the class a default judgment of $1.8 billion in damages. The massive judgment was consistent with other terrorism exception judgments against Iran; to date, plaintiffs have won at least $50 billion in default judgments of this kind.