Sutherland v. Islamic Republic of Iran
| Decision Date | 25 June 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV. A. 99-3279 RCL.,CIV. A. 99-3279 RCL. |
| Citation | 151 F.Supp.2d 27 |
| Parties | Thomas M. SUTHERLAND, et al., Plaintiffs, v. ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN, and the Iranian Ministry of Information and Finance, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Columbia |
Michael Lee Martinez, Stuart Henry Newberger, Tracy A. Roman, Crowell & Moring, L.L.P., Washington, DC, for Plaintiffs.
On December 13, 1999, the plaintiffs, Thomas Sutherland and his family, filed a multi-count complaint alleging that the defendants were responsible for Thomas Sutherland's kidnapping, detention, and torture over a 6½ year period. The defendants, despite being properly served with process, failed to answer this charge in any way. Thus, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson entered the defendants' default on December 1, 2000.
Notwithstanding this entry of default, a default judgment against a foreign state may not be entered until the plaintiffs have "establishe[d] [their] claim or right to relief by evidence that is satisfactory to the Court." 28 U.S.C. § 1608(e). Thus, after this case was transferred to the undersigned judge, the Court held a bench trial to receive evidence from the plaintiffs. Again, the defendants failed to appear.
Based on the evidence presented in that trial, and the law applicable to this case, the Court finds a default judgment merited. Further, the Court finds that the plaintiffs are entitled to the following compensatory relief:
Thomas M. Sutherland US$ 23,540,000
Jean Sutherland US$ 10,000,000
Ann Elizabeth Sutherland US$ 6,500,000
Katherine Lee Sutherland US$ 6,500,000
Joan Murray Sutherland US$ 6,500,000
Finally, the Court finds that Thomas M. Sutherland is entitled to US$ 300,000,000 in punitive damages.
1. In June 1985, Thomas M. Sutherland was serving as Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at the American University of Beirut ("AUB") in Lebanon and had held that position for approximately two years. On June 9, 1985, Professor Sutherland arrived in Lebanon from a trip to the United States and was being driven from the airport to his office at AUB when his automobile was sideswiped and stopped by another vehicle containing eight young men carrying submachine guns. Professor Sutherland was forcibly dragged from his vehicle and kidnapped at gunpoint by members of the Hizbollah. He spent the next 2,354 days, approximately six and one-half years, imprisoned in dungeons in various parts of Lebanon, including the southern suburbs of Beirut and Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. Conditions in these dungeons were horrific and inhumane. Professor Sutherland, and the other hostages held with or near him— all by the Hizbollah—were physically and psychologically abused by their captors. Professor Sutherland was released from captivity on November 18, 1991.1
2. Plaintiff Thomas M. Sutherland, his wife Jean Sutherland, and their daughters, Ann Elizabeth Sutherland, Katherine Lee Sutherland, and Joan Murray Sutherland, now bring this action against the Islamic Republic of Iran ("Iran") and its Ministry of Information and Security ("MOIS"), as the principals responsible for the multiple tortious injuries done to the Sutherland family by Hizbollah, a terrorist organization financially backed and directed by Iran and MOIS. Jurisdiction of the Plaintiffs' case is based on 28 U.S.C. §§ 1330(b) and 1605(a)(7), the latter being a 1996 amendment to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1602-1611.
3. Professor Thomas Sutherland was born in Scotland on May 3, 1931. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1963.
4. Professor Sutherland first came to the United States in 1954 and obtained his Ph.D. from Iowa State University in 1958. While at Iowa State he married Jean Sutherland and between them they had three daughters, Ann, Katherine (also known as "Kit") and Joan.
5. The Sutherlands also moved to Fort Collins, Colorado in 1958 and Thomas M. Sutherland became a Professor at Colorado State University specializing in various agricultural matters. In the ensuing years Professor Sutherland traveled to and had teaching assignments in other countries. For example, in 1976-78, Professor Sutherland was Director of Training for two full years at the International Livestock Center for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
6. In 1981, Professor Sutherland was offered the position of Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at AUB in Beirut, Lebanon. Although he had mixed feelings about leaving his post at Colorado State University, he and his wife Jean decided to go to Beirut as a team. In mid-1983, he signed a three-year contract with AUB. Initially, the Sutherlands' two youngest daughters, Kit and Joan, also went to Beirut. At the time Kit was a junior at the University of Colorado. She stayed in Beirut until mid 1984 and completed her junior year abroad at AUB. Joan stayed in Beirut until February 1984, at which time she decided to return home. The Sutherlands' oldest daughter, Ann, remained in the United States where she was completing her post-graduate education at the University of California San Francisco.
7. Professor Sutherland decided to go to Lebanon for several reasons. He saw the post as an opportunity to advance his career in university administration. He also saw the post in Lebanon as an opportunity to teach Lebanese farmers how to get greater productivity from land that had not been as agriculturally productive as it could have been. In addition, as Professor Sutherland testified, AUB was an outstanding institution of higher education with an excellent faculty, many of whom had trained at the best colleges and universities in the United States. Moreover, AUB's graduates typically received the best jobs in the Middle East.
8. When the Sutherlands arrived in Lebanon in mid 1983, the country was in turmoil that was effectively a state of civil war. The United States Embassy in Beirut had been bombed on April 18, 1983. Periodically bombs, shells, and sniper fire would erupt in various parts of the city. A line running roughly from north to south in Beirut, known as "the green line," separated Muslims from Christians. The Muslims were on the western side of the city, with Christians to the east. Crossing the line in either direction was sometimes dangerous and always time consuming. Not long after the Sutherlands arrived, on October 23, 1983, the United States Marine barracks near the airport south of Beirut, exploded when a suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden truck into the barracks. 241 U.S. servicemen were killed.
9. The AUB campus was an enclave on the western side of the city next to the Mediterranean Sea. The Sutherlands lived in a house on campus and, at least for the first several months they lived in Beirut, the campus was somewhat sacrosanct from the turmoil around it.
10. On January 18, 1984, however, Malcolm Kerr, President of AUB, was assassinated by a bullet fired into the back of his head just outside the elevator near his office in the AUB Administration Building.
11. These events shook and worried the Sutherlands, but they felt their mission in Beirut was important and that they, as people there to help the Lebanese, were unlikely targets for any nefarious activity. Thus, they returned for the 1984-85 school year and Professor Sutherland likewise planned to return for the 1985-86 school year to complete his contract.
12. During the 1983-85 time period, incidents of kidnapping of Americans and citizens of various Western European countries began to occur. Among those kidnapped were: William Buckley, the local Central Intelligence Agency ("CIA") station chief, kidnapped on March 16, 1984; Reverend Benjamin Weir of the Presbyterian Church, kidnapped on May 8, 1984; Father Lawrence Martin Jenco of the Catholic Church, kidnapped on January 8, 1985; Terry Anderson of the Associated Press, kidnapped on March 16, 1985; and David Jacobsen of the AUB Medical School, kidnapped on May 28, 1985. See Appendix III to At Your Own Risk, by Tom & Jean Sutherland. Pls' Exh. 92.
13. At the end of the 1984-85 academic year, Professor Sutherland flew home to Colorado on May 19, 1985, to attend Kit's college graduation from the University of Colorado, to attend a conference in California and to get a few days rest. As part of his rest, Professor Sutherland spent a few days at the family cabin just outside Estes Park, Colorado. Ann and Joan both recall a conversation at that time in which their father said he would rather die than be kidnapped, but that in any event he was not concerned because he did not see himself as a likely target.
14. Professor Sutherland returned to Beirut alone on June 9, 1985. The night before, Jean had placed in his briefcase a lengthy paper prepared by a friend on Islam, entitled Islam Today, that discussed various sects and aspects of Islam. The document had been formatted and printed so that its margins were "right justified." Jean thought Tom would find the paper interesting and informative. Because Professor Sutherland did not open his briefcase during the trip from his home to Beirut, he was not aware of this paper. Unfortunately, the paper would prove to be very important to Professor Sutherland's "wellbeing." Although Professor Sutherland arrived in Beirut on June 9, he intended to remain for only a couple of weeks, as he planned to return to Colorado in time for Joan's twenty-first birthday party on July 2, 1985.
15. Upon his arrival in Beirut, Professor Sutherland was met by his driver Sharif and three bodyguards. Professor Sutherland, noting that it was only six miles to AUB, waved off the bodyguards, not believing them necessary. He and Sharif got into the front seat of Sharif's Chevrolet Caprice and left the airport, first towards the main road and...
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