Prevatt v. Islamic Republic of Iran

• Citation: 421 F.Supp.2d 152
• Decision Date: 27 March 2006
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 02-1775 (RCL).
• Parties: Victoria PREVATT, Plaintiff, v. ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

Page 152

421 F.Supp.2d 152

Victoria PREVATT, Plaintiff, v. ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 02-1775 (RCL).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

March 27, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

John J. McDermott, Alexandria, VA, for Plaintiff.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

LAMBERTH, District Judge.

This case arises from the October 23, 1983 terrorist attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. Plaintiff, the sister of a serviceman killed in the bombing, alleges that defendants are liable for damages resulting therefrom because they provided material support and assistance to Hezbollah, the terrorist organization that orchestrated the bombing. As such, defendants are subject to suit under the terrorism exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act ("FSIA"), 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(7).

In plaintiff's initial complaint, filed on September 9, 2002, she brought suit on her own behalf, as well as on behalf of her brother's estate, against four named defendants: the Islamic Republic of Iran ("Iran"), the Iranian Ministry of Information and Security (the "MOIS"), the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (the "IRGC"), and Hizballah. On July 14, 2003, after service on three defendants—Iran, the MOIS and the IRGC—was completed through diplomatic channels and those defendants failed to respond or enter an appearance, default was entered against them. An evidentiary hearing on the issue of liability was held on January 16, 2004. As to damages, a court-appointed special master filed a report on December 1, 2003. Plaintiff submitted her Proposed Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law on May 20, 2004.

On December 15, 2004, in light of recent decisions by the Court of Appeals for this Circuit, plaintiff submitted, upon leave of the Court, an amended complaint reflecting that the suit was brought solely in her personal capacity against just two of the initially named defendants, Iran and the IRGC, and asserted claims based on intentional infliction of emotional distress and punitive damages. Despite plaintiff's attempts, she was unable to serve the amended complaint on either defendant. This Court finds that service of the amended complaint is not necessary. As compared to the initial complaint, the amended complaint removed the designation of plaintiff as administrator of her brother's estate, deleted the wrongful death count, and changed the solatium count to an intentional infliction of emotional distress count. Even were these changes characterized as substantive, Iran and the IRGC had fair notice of the allegations and relief sought, because the amended complaint simply deleted some of the references and information that was contained in the initial complaint. See Dammarell v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 370 F.Supp.2d 218, 225 (D.D.C.2005) (Bates, J.) (noting that only "additions to a complaint [which are] substantial" might warrant the service of an amended complaint). Accordingly, this Court will not require plaintiff to serve the amended complaint.

As to the effect of recent changes in law, the Court directed plaintiff to brief the effect of intervening case law, and she filed a memorandum to that effect on January 3, 2006. She also subsequently submitted, on January 13, 2006, amended Proposed Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law.

Plaintiff's liability claims are supported by the evidence presented in the evidentiary hearing, including this Court's judicial notice of findings made in a prior case arising from the same attack, Peterson v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 264 F.Supp.2d 46 (D.D.C.2003) (Lamberth, J.). Plaintiffs personal damages claims are supported by the Report of the Special Master, which includes a deposition of plaintiff and other documentary evidence. Based on all of the evidence presented, the Court makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law and will, consistent with them, enter default judgment in favor of plaintiff and against defendants Iran and the IRGC.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiff Victoria Prevatt-Wood was born in Columbus, Georgia. (Victoria Prevatt-Wood Dep. 5.) She is an American citizen who is domiciled in Georgia. (Id. at 4, 5.)

2. Ms. Prevatt-Wood's brother, Victor Mark Prevatt ("Mark Prevatt"), was also a United States citizen. On October

23, 1983, he was a member of the 8. United States Marine Corps stationed in Beirut, Lebanon. (Victoria Prevatt-Wood Dep. 8-9.)

3. On October 23, 1983, members of the terrorist group Hezbollah carried out an attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. Peterson, 264 F.Supp.2d at 56. Mark Prevatt was killed in the attack.

4. The attack was the culmination of careful planning by defendant the IRGC and Hezbollah, Peterson, 264 F.Supp.2d at 55-56, acting on directions by defendant Iran, id. at 54.

5. Defendant Iran "is a foreign state and has been designated a state sponsor of terrorism pursuant to section 6(j) of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C.A. § 2405(j)) continuously since January 19, 1984." Flatow v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 999 F.Supp. 1, 11, ¶ 19 (D.D.C.1998) (Lamberth, J.). Iran was designated a state sponsor of terrorism largely because of the October 23, 1984 attack. Kenneth Katzman, Iran: Current Developments and U.S. Policy, Congressional Research Service, January 14, 2000, at 6 (noting that, "based largely on evidence of Iran's involvement in the October 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon," Iran was designated as a state sponsor of terrorism on January 19, 1984.).

6. "Hezbollah is largely under Iranian orders. It's almost entirely acting ... under the order of the Iranians and being financed almost entirely by the Iranians." Peterson, 264 F.Supp.2d at 51.

7. "[I]t is beyond question that Hezbollah and its agents received massive mate-14. rial and technical support from the Iranian government." Id. at 58.

8. Defendants Iran and the IRGC conspired to provide material support and resources to Hezbollah, a terrorist organization, within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(7), which caused the death of Mark Prevatt.

9. Mark Prevatt's death was caused by a willful and deliberate act of extrajudicial killing because the explosion was caused by a bomb that was deliberately driven into the barracks by a member of Hezbollah acting under the direction of defendants Iran and the IRGC.

10. Ms. Prevatt-Wood was eight years old at the time of her brother's death. (Special Master's Rep. 2.) Mark Prevatt was eleven years older than Ms. Prevatt-Wood. (Victoria Prevatt-Wood Dep. 5.) Mark Prevatt, Victoria Prevatt-Wood and another brother grew up together with their mother in Columbus, Georgia. (Id. at 6.)

11. After their parents divorced, Mark Prevatt assumed a figurehead position in the house. (Id. at 6-7.) He took on a fatherly role with respect to his younger siblings. (Id. at 7.)

12. At the age of 17, Mark Prevatt enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. (Id. at 8-9.) While in the Marines, Mark Prevatt corresponded with his family, occasionally by telephone, but more often by handwritten letters. (Special Master's Rep. 2; Victoria Prevatt-Wood Dep. 10-15.)

13. Victoria Prevatt-Wood first heard about the attack from the news as she was getting ready for school on October 23, 1983. (Victoria Prevatt-Wood Dep. 17.) At her mother's direction, she went to school, but was called home later that day. (Id. at 17-18.)

14. In the aftermath of the attack, Victoria Prevatt-Wood remembers her life being put on overwhelmed with news of the attack. (Id. at 18-20.) The family closely followed media reports, and she was unable to leave the house or have friends over. (Id. at 18-19.)

15. For an extended period of time, the family did not know whether Mark Prevatt had been killed in the attack. (Id. at 19-20.) Over about three weeks, the family was told conflicting reports of whether Mark Prevatt might have survived or whether it was simply a matter of identifying his remains. (Id. at 20-22.)

16. During this period of time, Victoria Prevatt-Wood remembers the adults around her as behaving very emotionally and erratically. (Victoria Prevatt-Wood Dep. 22.) She was confused and distressed by her parents' anger, grief, guilt, depression and pain. (Victoria Prevatt-Wood Journal (Ex. 18) at 1-2.)

17. Every year, Victoria Prevatt-Wood visits her brother's gravesite on his birthday and on the anniversary of the attack. (Victoria Prevatt-Wood Dep. 32.) The entire family reserves the anniversary of the attack as a special date, during which they reconnect with one another to remember and comfort each other, and no other events are scheduled. (Id. at 32-33; Special Master's Rep. 2; Victoria Prevatt-Wood Journal (Ex. 19) at 1-2.)

18. The death of her brother significantly impacted Victoria Prevatt-Wood's life. (Victoria Prevatt-Wood Dep. 27.) She describes his death as the "defining event" of her childhood. (Victoria Prevatt-Wood Journal (Ex. 18) at 1.) Even now, more than twenty years later, it continues to affect her relationships with her parents and her own perception of her life. (Id.) She feels as though she lost part of her mother, father and other brother as well, because each has been irrevocably changed by Mark Prevatt's death. (Victoria Prevatt-Wood Journal (Ex. 19) at 1-2.)

19. Victoria Prevatt-Wood describes feeling cheated by the loss of her brother. (Id.) She imagines the friendship that she would have with Mark Prevatt were he still living today. (Id.) He is constantly in her thoughts and she frequently visits his gravesite. (Id.)

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

I. Legal Standard for FSIA Default Judgment

Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, "[n]o judgment by default shall be entered by a court of the United States or of a state against a foreign state . . . unless the claimant establishes his claim or right to relief by evidence satisfactory to the court." 28 U.S.C. § 1608(e); Roeder v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 333 F.3d 228, 232-33 (...