Estate of Doe v. Islamic Republic of Iran

• Decision Date: 16 August 2011
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 08–540 (JDB).
• Parties: ESTATE OF John DOE, et al., Plaintiffs, v. ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

80 Fed.R.Serv.3d 558

808 F.Supp.2d 1

ESTATE OF John DOE, et al., Plaintiffs,

v.ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 08–540 (JDB).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Aug. 16, 2011.

Stuart H. Newberger, Crowell & Moring LLP, Washington, DC, for Plaintiffs.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JOHN D. BATES, District Judge.

Twenty-eight years ago, on April 18, 1983, Shi'ite Muslim militants attacked the United States Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing sixty-three people and injuring scores of others in an unprecedented assault on a U.S. diplomatic compound. On September 20, 1984, another attack targeted the new location of Embassy operations (“Embassy Annex”) in another area of Beirut, killing at least eleven people and injuring over fifty individuals. These tragic facts have been recounted in several mass-tort lawsuits brought by the victims of this terrorism against the Islamic Republic of Iran (“Iran”) and its Ministry of Information and Security (“MOIS”), as permitted by a 1996 amendment to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”) that revoked jurisdictional protection for terrorist-sponsoring governments. This area of law continues to evolve. Most recently, and relevant here, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 amended the FSIA to permit foreign national employees of the United States government killed or injured while acting within the scope of their employment and their family members to sue a state sponsor of terrorism for injuries and damages resulting from an act of terrorism. Here, almost all plaintiffs are foreign national employees of the U.S. Government and their immediate family members. This Court is the first to address the claims of foreign national immediate family members of U.S. government employees under the 2008 FSIA amendments.

Background

Plaintiffs bring this case pursuant to section 1083 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (“2008 NDAA” or “Act”), Pub.L. No. 110–181, § 1083, 122 Stat. 341 (2008) (codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1605A (2009)), as a “Related Action” to Dammarell v. Islamic Republic of Iran, No. 01–2224, 2006 WL 2583043 (D.D.C. Sept. 7, 2006) ¹; Salazar v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 370 F.Supp.2d 105 (D.D.C.2005), Wagner v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 172 F.Supp.2d 128 (D.D.C.2001), and Welch v. Islamic Republic of Iran, Civ. A. No. 01–863, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99191 (D.D.C. Sept. 20, 2007), adopted by the district court in 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99192 (D.D.C. Oct. 15, 2007).

Plaintiffs are 58 foreign national employees of the U.S. Government and one U.S. national employee of the U.S. Government, who were working in the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, and were killed or injured as a result of the 1983 or 1984 terrorist attacks, and 255 of their immediate family members. Pl.'s Mot. for Summ. Judg. on Liability (“Pl.'s Mot.”) [Docket Entry # 31] at 1–2. Plaintiffs bring their claims against Iran and MOIS (collectively “Defendants”) pursuant to the 2008 NDAA, which amended the FSIA to permit foreign national employees of the United States Government killed or injured while acting within the scope of their employment, members of the armed services, and their family members, to sue a state sponsor of terrorism for injuries and damages resulting from an act of terrorism. See 28 U.S.C. § 1605A(a)(2)(A)(ii)(II) & (III) (2009).

The U.S. government employee plaintiffs assert claims for wrongful death and/or personal injury pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1605A(c) and seek damages for economic loss, pain and suffering, and emotional distress. See Third Am. Comp. [Docket Entry # 32] ¶¶ 363–67. Plaintiffs who are the immediate family members of these U.S. government employees assert claims for emotional distress and solatium or consortium pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1605A(c) or, in the alternative, pursuant to D.C. law (the law of the forum), Lebanese law ( lex loci ), or the law of the domicile of the Plaintiff at the time of the attack. Id. ¶¶ 368–76. The U.S. Government employees and family members who are deceased are each represented by a legal representative, who is an heir-at-law for the decedent and who seeks survival damages. Id. ¶¶ 377–80.

This Court and other courts in this district have held in several cases that defendants Iran and MOIS directed and facilitated the 1983 and 1984 attacks on the U.S. Embassy and therefore proximately caused the injuries sustained by the victims of those attacks. In each case, Iran and MOIS were held liable to the victims of these attacks and their immediate family members for compensatory damages. See Brewer v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 664 F.Supp.2d 43, 47 (D.D.C.2009) (1984 attack); Welch, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99191, at *12–20. (1984 attack); Salazar, 370 F.Supp.2d at 107–08 (1983 attack); Dammarell V, 2006 WL 2583043, at *1–2 (1983 attack); Wagner, 172 F.Supp.2d at 133 (1984 attack). Here, the Court must again determine defendant's liability to this new class of plaintiffs, which requires an analysis of the jurisdictional grant and cause of action provided by the 2008 NDAA as it amended the FSIA.

Plaintiffs initiated this action on March 28, 2008, and effected service on November 18, 2009, in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 1608(a)(4). Defendants failed to respond, and the Clerk of Court entered a default on January 29, 2010. Before plaintiffs can be awarded any relief, this Court must determine whether plaintiffs have established their claims “by evidence satisfactory to the court.” 28 U.S.C. § 1608(e); see also Roeder v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 333 F.3d 228, 232 (D.C.Cir.2003). In evaluating plaintiffs' claims, the Court “may accept [plaintiffs'] uncontroverted evidence as true and may rely on sworn affidavits.” Campuzano v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 281 F.Supp.2d 258, 268 (D.D.C.2003). The Court is not required to hold an evidentiary hearing, see Bodoff v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 424 F.Supp.2d 74, 78 (D.D.C.2006), and “may take judicial notice of related proceedings and records in cases before the same court.” Salazar, 370 F.Supp.2d at 109 n. 6. Based on the record herein, and relying upon related cases involving the same incident and defendants, this Court makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.

FINDINGS OF FACT

On April 18, 1983, at approximately 1:05 p.m., an unidentified driver crashed a vehicle laden with hundreds of pounds of explosives into the main entrance of the United States Embassy in Beirut. See Exs. 4–9 ²; Dammarell IV, 404 F.Supp.2d at 271. Upon crashing into the Embassy, the vehicle exploded with a force so powerful that seven floors in the center section of the crescent-shaped building collapsed, or “pancaked.” Id. Portions of the Embassy, including the Marine security guard post, the cafeteria, the United States Information Service library, the personnel section, and the consular section, were completely destroyed by the blast. Id.; Exs. 16, 54. Other parts of the building were severely damaged. Id. As a result of the blast, at least fifty-two people were killed and more than thirty-four others were injured.³ See Ex. 4.

Following the 1983 Attack, embassy operations were temporarily transferred to the Embassy Annex, in what was believed to be a safer part of the city. See Exs. 20, 52. Despite this precaution, on September 20, 1984, shortly before noon, another vehicle loaded with thousands of pounds of explosives was detonated just outside of the Annex (“the 1984 Attack,” and together with the 1983 Attack, “the Attacks”). See, e.g., Ex. 20, 53, 11. The bomb severely damaged the Annex. See Exs. 20, 28. At least eleven people were killed, including several Lebanese citizens, and at least fifty-eight others were injured.⁴ See Ex. 4, 5, 20.

The 1983 bombing was the first large-scale attack against a U.S. Embassy anywhere in the world. See Ex. 15 (Oakley Dep. Tr.) at 22; see also Ex. 16 (Tr. Vol. I at 121–22). At the time, it was not immediately clear who was responsible for the bombing. See, e.g., Ex. 17 (Tr. Vol. II at 27–28); Ex. 15 (Tr. Vol. I at 121). But by 1984, the U.S. State Department, in its annual publication “Patterns of Global Terrorism: 1983,” noted that “radical Lebanese Shi'a using the nom-de-guerre Islamic Jihad” and “operat[ing] with Iranian support and encouragement” were “responsible for the suicide attack[s] against the U.S. Embassy.” See Ex. 27; Ex. 15 (Oakley Dep. Tr.) at 21:15–22:6 (“I am confident that the government of Iran was involved directly [in the 1983 bombing] by the Hisballah organization ... I don't think there is any doubt.”). The terrorist group Islamic Jihad has been known by various names, including Right Against Wrong, the Revolutionary Justice Organization and, perhaps most commonly, Hizbollah.⁵ See Ex. 15 (Oakley Depo. Tr.) at 46. Ambassador Robert Oakley—who, as the coordinator of the State Department's counterterrorism efforts, was tasked with assessing who was behind the 1983 Beirut Embassy bombing, see Ex. 15 (Oakley Dep. Tr.) at 9—testified that it ultimately became “very clear that Islamic Jihad [Hizbollah] was behind the bombing in 1983.” Id. at 21. Ambassador Oakley further expressed “confiden[ce] that the government of Iran was involved directly in the Hisballah organization, which was created, armed, trained, protected, provided technical assistance by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.” Id. at 21.

Within about two weeks of the 1984 Attack, the investigation had uncovered satellite photo evidence indicating Iranian direction and planning of the Attack. Ex. 21; See Wagner, 172 F.Supp.2d at 132. Both Attacks were consistent with Iran's pattern of targeting U.S. interests in the region, and the complexity of the attack upon the U.S. Embassy in Beirut evidenced Iran's central role in the attack. See Exs. 15, 17, 21, 26; Dammarell I, 281 F.Supp.2d at 112. At the Dammarell evidentiary hearing, Dr. Patrick Clawson, Deputy Director of the Washington Institute for Near East...