In Re Terrorist Attacks On September 112001.
| Decision Date | 17 June 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. 03 MDL 1570(GBD).,03 MDL 1570(GBD). |
| Citation | 718 F.Supp.2d 456 |
| Parties | In re TERRORIST ATTACKS ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
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Andrew Joseph Maloney, Blanca I. Rodriguez, Brian J. Alexander, David Beekman, David Charles Cook, Francis Gerard Fleming, James P. Kreindler, Justin Timothy Green, Lee S. Kreindler, Marc S. Moller, Milton G. Sincoff, Noah H. Kushlefsky, Paul S. Edelman, Robert James Spragg, Steven R. Pounian, Vincent Ian Parrett, James P. Kreindler, Kreindler & Kreindler, David J. O'Brien, Dorothea M. Capone, Michel Francis Baumeister, Baumeister & Samuels, P.C., Paul J. Hanly, Jr., Allan Gerson, Hanly Conroy Bierstein & Sheridan LLP, Hael Barasch, Barasch McGarry Salzman Penson & Lim, John Brian Galligan, Michael J. Sommi, Cozen & O'Connor, Andrew N. Bourne, Jerry Stephen Goldman, Anderson Kill & Olick, P.C., Robert Manuel Kaplan, Robson Ferber Frost Chan & Essner, LLP, Gina Marie Mac Neill, Law Offices of Jerry S. Goldman & Associates, P.C., Joshua M. Ambush, Law Offices of Joshua M. Ambush, LLC, Baltimore, MD, Paul R. Dubinsky, Law Office of Paul Dubinsky, New York, NY, Roger Paul Alford, Pepperdine University School of Law, Malibu, CA, Stephen A. Corr, Mellon, Webster & Shelly, Doylestown, PA, Jayne Conroy, Hanly Conroy Bierstein Sheridan Fisher & Hayes, LLP, David C. Lee, John Davis Lee, Law Offices of J.D. Lee, Knoxville, TN, Robert D. Brain, Suzelle M. Smith, Don Howarth, Howarth and Smith (LA), Los Angeles, CA, Donald J. Winder, Winder & Haslam, Salt Lake City, UT, Jack D. Cordray, Cordray Law Firm, Charleston, SC, Donald J. Nolan, Floyd A. Wisner, Nolan Law Group, Chicago, IL, Edward H. Rubenstone, Bensalem, PA, H. Patrick Donohue, Armstrong, Donohue, Ceppos & Vaughn, Chartered, Rockville, MD, Jeffrey Scott Thompson, Robert Turner Haefele, Jodi Westbrook Flowers, Ronald L. Motley, Anne McGinness Kearse, Justin Braun Kaplan, Donald A. Migliori, Elizabeth S. Smith, Motley Rice LLC, Mount Pleasant, SC, Joseph A. Cullen, Jr., Doylestown, PA, George R. Blakey, Notre Dame, IN, Richard D. Burbridge, Salt Lake City, UT, Robert F. Muse, Patrick A. Malone, Stein, Mitchell & Mezines, L.L.P., Matthew G. Ash, Cozen O'Connor, Howard N. Feldman, Christopher Thomas Leonardo, Kenneth L. Adams, Adams Holcomb LLP, Washington, DC, Harry Huge, Huge Law Firm, Charleston, SC, Adam C. Bonin, Mark T. Mullen, Cozen O'Connor, Philadelphia, PA, for Plaintiffs.
James Ernest Gauch, Jones Day, Gerald A. Feffer, Peter Jonathan Kahn, Williams & Connolly LLP, Michael D. McNeely, Steven A. Maddox, DLA Piper U.S. LLP, Nancy Luque, Luque Geragos Marino, LLP, Steven Karl Barentzen, The Law Office of Steven Barentzen, Christopher Canon Swindle Manning, Manning Sossamon, Timothy Brian Mills, Maggs & McDermott LLC, Barry Coburn, Jeffrey Coffman, Coburn & Coffman, PLLC, Lisa Freiman Fishberg, Schertler & Onorato, LLP, Matthew H. Kirtland, Fulbright & Jaworski, L.L.P., Christopher Robert Smith, Martin Francis McMahon, Martin F. McMahon and Associates, Mitchell Rand Berger, Alan Dickey, Patton Boggs LLP, Melissa Danielle Stear, Stephen Joseph Brogan, Jones Day, Lynne Bernabei, Alan R. Kabat, Bernabei and Wachtel PLLC, Alan E. Untereiner, Max Huffman, Roy T. Englert, Jr., Lawrence Saul Robbins, Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck & Untereiner LLP, Christopher Talbot Lutz, Roger E. Warin, Steptoe & Johnson, LLP, John C. Millian, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, L.L.P., Brian Arthur Coleman, Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP, Michael J. McManus Drinker, Biddle & Reath, L.L.P. David F. Geneson, Sheppard Mullin Law Firm, William Horace Jeffress, Jr., Baker Botts LLP, Christopher R. Cooper, Jamie Steven Kilberg, Sara Elizabeth Kropf, Washington, DC, James Vann, Jason Dzubow, Maher H. Hanania, Falls Church, VA, Christopher J. Beal, Jay D. Hanson, DLA Piper U.S. LLP, San Diego, CA, David Usher Gourevitch, Law Office of David Gourevitch, P.C., John Joseph Walsh, Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP, Jean Engelmayer Kalicki, Arnold & Porter, LLP, Brian Howard Polovoy, Henry Sabath Weisburg, Shearman & Sterling LLP, Felice Beth Galant, Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P., Alan Kahn, Amy Rothstein, Doar, Rieck, Kaley & Mack, Martin Jeffrey Schwartz, Monica Pa, Martin R. Gold, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, Donald Allen Klein, Schiff Hardin LLP, New York, NY, David M. Ryan, Nixon Peabody LLP, Boston, MA, Hugh D. Higgins, John F. Lauro, Lauro Law Firm, Tampa, FL, Lisa Beth Hymes, Lisa B. Hymes, Esq., Armonk, NY, Ayad P. Jacob, Schiff Hardin LLP, John N. Scholnick, Schiff Hardin LLP, Chicago, IL, Ashraf Wajih Nubani, Busch & Nubani, P.C., Annandale, VA, Thomas Viles, Berkman Henoch Peterson & Peddy, P.C., Garden City, NY, John M. Helms, Jr., Thomas M. Melsheimer, Matthew E. Yarbrough, Fish & Richardson P.C., Dallas, TX, David Z. Nevin, Scott McKay, Nevin, Benjamin & McKay LLP, Boise, ID, Raymond Richard Castello, Fish & Richardson P.C., Joshua Lewis Dratel, Law Offices of Joshua L. Dratel, P.C., Rayner Max Hamilton, White & Case LLP, T. Barry Kingham, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt and Mosle LLP, James Joseph McGuire, Mishcon de Reya New York, LLP, New York, NY, Christopher M. Curran, Nicole E. Erb, White & Case LLP, Washington, DC, Sheldon Krantz, David E. Nachman, Rachel Tausend, DLA Piper Rudnick LLP, New York, NY, Richard T. Marooney, King & Spalding, LLP, New York, NY, Viet D. Dinh Bancroft Associates PLLC, Washington, DC, Wilmer Parker, Maloy Jenkins Parker, Atlanta, GA, Michael K. Kellogg, Mark C. Hansen, Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, PLLC, Washington, DC, Karla J. Letsche, Oldaker Belair & Wittie LLP, Washington, DC, Omar T. Mohammedi, New York, NY, for Defendants.
This multi-district litigation seeks monetary damages from the named defendants who allegedly participated, conspired, sponsored, aided, abetted and otherwise provided material support to the terrorists who conducted the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. Hundreds of defendants are alleged to have knowingly provided financial and other means of material support directly or indirectly to Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and its affiliated terrorist organizations. Plaintiffs contend that the provision of material support by these defendants assisted al Qaeda's ability to accomplish the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, thereby resulting in death and injury.
Since its inception in the late 1980's, al Qaeda has relied on well-placed financial facilitators and logistical sponsors to raise, manage and distribute money and resources, enabling it to grow rapidly into a formidable international terrorist network. Al Qaeda's ability to maintain its far-reaching reign of terror is by virtue of an underground infrastructure of global dimension. To defy detection, financial and other material support winds it way through a labyrinth of interconnected individuals and entities before arriving at its final intended recipient, al Qaeda. It is described, by plaintiffs, as an elaborate and complex web of banks, financial institutions, businesses, individual financiers, relief organizations, charities, foreign governments and their officials; all of whom purportedly use their united international efforts to covertly infuse al Qaeda with massive amounts of financial and other material support. Charities cloaked in a veil of legitimacy have allegedly amassed enormous sums of money for al Qaeda by diverting charitable donations from the hands of the needy into the hands of the terrorists. By allegedly feeding on years of financial, logistical, and other material support provided by others, al Qaeda grew in numbers, prominence and military strength, ultimately maturing into an organization, so highly skilled and proficient in the ways of terrorism, that it was able to accomplish attacks, including on United States soil, of unprecedented magnitude.
Plaintiffs maintain that, since at least the mid-1990's, it has been publicly known that Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network were engaged in a global campaign of terror directed at its proclaimed enemy, the United States. In 1996, Osama bin Laden identified the United States as al Qaeda's main enemy. In 1997, he declared jihad against the United States and, in 1998, made more explicit his declaration of war by calling upon all Muslims to kill Americans whenever and wherever they may be found. Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda affirmatively acted in carrying out their murderous threats against the United States as evidenced by the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the 1998 bombings of two United States embassies in East Africa, and the 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole.
Plaintiffs contend that, because it was publicly known since at least the mid-1990's that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda had targeted the United States (including more specifically the World Trade Center) and its citizens, those who directly or indirectly provided material support to them, during that period of time, plainly knew they were assisting al Qaeda with its terrorist agenda. Plaintiffs further contend that, given the financial resources and operational logistics required to effectuate the 9/11 attacks, those attacks could not have been possible had it not been for the knowing material support provided to al Qaeda by charities, banks, foreign officials, as well as other components of the terrorist matrix.
The numerous complaints assert causes of action for violations of international, foreign, federal and state law, and are pled on concerted theories of liability, i.e., aiding and abetting, acting in concert, and conspiracy. Several defendants have separately and collectively moved, by way of more than one hundred motions, to dismiss the respective complaints against them: (1) pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1), for lack of subject matter jurisdiction on the...
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