After decades of legal battles, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that it’s time for Iran to pay the victims.
The appeals court has made it possible for 10 American victims of the brutal attacks and their families to collect more than $9.4 million in Iranian funds. The Feb. 26 opinion confirms a ruling two years ago in the lower district court in San Diego.
“This is the first real opportunity we really feel we are actually going to collect something and force Iran to pay back some kind of compensation,” said Daniel Miller, who was peppered with shrapnel in a bombing. “They shouldn’t go unpunished.”
Nine American suicide bombing victims and their families brought their own lawsuit in Washington D.C. in 2001, and again Iran ignored it. A judge ruled after a four-day trial that Iran trained and provided other assistance to the bombers, and handed down an award of $70 million in compensatory damages.
“Iran’s demonstrated policy of encouraging, supporting and directing a campaign of deadly terrorism is evidence of the monstrous character of the bombing that inflicted maximum pain and suffering on innocent people,” the district court said in its ruling. “Killing innocent civilians for political ends constitutes unconscionable conduct in any civilized society.”
But the way U.S. law was written at the time, the victims could not collect. That changed in 2002 with the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, allowing the blocked assets of a country to be made available for judgments in terrorism incidents.
That meant the Cubic money was free to go to the terror victims rather than Iran.
David Strachman, a Rhode Island-based attorney who tried the case called the ruling “extremely unusual” for the large assets involved.
“Iran fiercely fought this,” Strachman said, noting the several appeals the case has had. “They tried to thwart the victims at every attempt.”
The Pasadena-based attorney representing Iran, Steven Kerekes, declined to be interviewed. Iran is considering appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Source: San Diego Union Tribune, 13 March 2016