Valore v. Islamic Republic of Iran

• Decision Date: 27 March 2007
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 03-1959(RCL).
• Citation: 478 F.Supp.2d 101
• Parties: Terance VALORE, et al., Plaintiffs, v. ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

478 F.Supp.2d 101

Terance VALORE, et al., Plaintiffs, v. ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 03-1959(RCL).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

March 27, 2007.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Joseph Peter Drennan, Alexandria, VA, Patrick M. Donahue, Donahue Law Firm Annapolis, MD, Daniel W. Gaskill, Rockville, MD, for Plaintiffs.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

LAMBERTH, District Judge.

BACKGROUND

This case arises from the October 23, 1983, terrorist attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. Plaintiffs are members of the United States armed forces who sustained injuries or died as a result of the aforementioned terrorist attack, as well as the estates and family members of those who died in the attack. Plaintiffs claim that defendants the Islamic Republic of Iran ("Iran") and the Iranian Ministry of Information and Security ("MOIS") are liable for damages resulting from this attack because they provided material support to Hezbollah, a terrorist organization that perpetrated the bombing. Plaintiffs rely on causes of action founded upon provisions of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act ("FSIA"), inter alia, 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(7).

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On September 16, 2003, plaintiffs filed a Complaint against defendants Iran and MOIS. Service upon a. foreign state or a subdivision thereof is governed by the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1608. FED.R.Civ.P. 4. On February 13, 2006, service on the defendants was effected via diplomatic channels, as prescribed by 28 U.S.C. § 1608. Defendants failed to answer or otherwise respond to the Complaint. Accordingly, upon motion by plaintiffs, the Clerk of this Court entered default against the defendants on August 10, 2006. An evidentiary hearing on the issue of the defendants' liability for this heinous attack was also held on August 10, 2006.

Plaintiffs' liability claims are supported by the evidence presented at the hearing, as well as by this Court's findings and conclusions made in Peterson v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 264 F.Supp.2d 46 (D.D.C.2003) (Lamberth, J.), an action brought against the same defendants for damages arising out of the same 1983 attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. As this Court recently noted, "`[a] court may take judicial notice of related proceedings and records in cases before the same court.'" Estate of Heiser v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 466 F.Supp.2d 229, 262-63 (D.D.C. Dec.22, 2006) (Lamberth, J.) (quoting Salazar v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 370 F.Supp.2d 105, 109 n. 6 (D.D.C.2005) (Bates, J.)).¹ Accordingly, in addition to its consideration of the testimony introduced by the plaintiffs at the hearing, this Court will take judicial notice of the findings and conclusions established previously in Peterson as to the defendants' involvement in and liability for the attack at issue.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. On the morning of October 23, 1983, members of Hezbollah ambushed a water delivery truck, scheduled to conduct routine delivery at the Beirut International Airport, which was located near the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.

2. In place of the real truck, a separate 19-ton truck was disguised so that it would resemble the hijacked water delivery truck. This fake delivery truck was modified so that it could transport an explosive device. This fake delivery truck set out for the U.S. Marine barracks, driven by Ismalal Ascari, an Iranian.

3. At approximately 6:25 a.m., Beirut time, the truck circled past the barracks, increased its speed, then proceeded to crash through a barbed wire barrier and a wall of sandbags, entering the barracks. When the truck reached the center of the barracks, the bomb in the truck detonated.

4. What resulted was the largest nonnuclear explosion ever detonated up to that time. The explosion caused severe damage over half a mile away. It created a crater in the ground over eight feet deep, and reduced the four-story Marine barracks to a pile of rubble.

5. FBI forensic investigators testified that the force of the explosion was equivalent to a force of between 15,000 and 21,000 pounds of TNT.

6. The explosion at the Marine barracks killed 241 servicemen, and caused many others to suffer severe injuries.

7. The U.S. Marine servicemembers who were present at the time of the attack in Beirut possessed neither combatant nor police powers. Each of the servicemembers were non-combatants operating under peacetime rules of engagement.

8. The attack on the U.S. Marine barracks was orchestrated and carried out by members of Hezbollah, an organization whose primary objective is to engage in terrorist activities.

9. The formation and emergence of Hezbollah as a major terrorist organization is due to the government of Iran.

10. The Islamic Republic of Iran provided material support and assistance in orchestrating the 1983 attack on the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut.

11. Dr. Patrick Clawson, a renowned expert on Iranian affairs, testified that at the time of the attack in 1983, Hezbollah was a creature of the Iranian government, acting almost entirely "under the order of the Iranians and being financed almost entirely by the Iranians."

12. Dr. Reuven Paz, the director of the Project for the Research of Islamist Movements and senior research fellow at The International Policy Institute for Counter-terrorism, agrees with Dr. Clawson's testimony, having testified that, at the time of the attack on the U.S. Marine barracks, Hezbollah "was totally controlled by Iran and actually served mainly the Iranian interest in Lebanon and [against] Israel." Dr. Paz further testified that there is no way that Hezbollah "could have carried, out such an attack [oh the U.S. Marine barracks] without Iranian training, without Iranian — Iranian supply of the explosives even, and without directions from the Iranian forces in Lebanon itself."

13. MOIS acted as a conduit for Iran's provision of funds and explosives to Hezbollah and, at all times relevant to these proceedings, exercised operational control over Hezbollah.

14. As Dr. Clawson testified, in light of the complex and significant nature of the 1983 attack on the U.S. Marine barracks, the attack itself would have been impossible without the express approval of Iranian government leaders at the highest level.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

I. LEGAL STANDARD FOR FSIA DEFAULT JUDGMENT

Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, "[n]o judgement 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 (D.C.Cir.2003), cert. denied, 542 U.S. 915, 124 S.Ct. 2836, 159 L.Ed.2d 287 (2004). In default judgment cases, plaintiffs may present evidence in the form of affidavits. Bodoff v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 424 F.Supp.2d 74, 82 (D.D.C. Mar.29, 2006) (quoting Campuzano v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 281 F.Supp.2d 258, 268 (D.D.C.2003) (Urbina, J.)). Upon evaluation, the court may accept plaintiffs' uncontroverted evidence as true. Campuzano, 281 F.Supp.2d at 268.

II. JURISDICTION

In the United States, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act ("FSIA") provides the sole basis for asserting jurisdiction over foreign sovereigns. Argentine Republic v. Amerada Hess Shipping Corp., 488 U.S. 428, 434-34, 109 S.Ct. 683, 102 L.Ed.2d 818 (1989); see also 28 U.S.C. § 1602, et seq. Under the. FSIA, a party may not bring an action for money damages in United States courts against a foreign state, unless an exception to jurisdictional immunity is found under 28 U.S.C. § 1605.² Under the FSIA's "statesponsored terrorism" exception, a foreign state may be subject to suits for money damages brought in U.S. courts where plaintiffs bring claims for

personal injury or death that was caused by an act of torture, extrajudicial killing, aircraft sabotage, hostage taking, or the provision of material support or resources (as defined in section 2339A of title 18) for such an act if such act or provision of material support is engaged by an official, employee, or `agent of such foreign state while acting within the scope of his or her office, employment or agency.³

Accordingly, in order to subject a foreign sovereign to suit under section 1605(a)(7), plaintiffs must show that: (1) the foreign sovereign was designated by the State Department as a "state sponsor of terrorism"; (2) the victim or plaintiff was a U.S. national at the time the acts took place; and (3) the foreign sovereign engaged in conduct enumerated within the statute. Prevatt v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 421 F.Supp.2d 152, 158 (D.D.C.2006) (Lamberth, J.). In this case, plaintiffs allege that the deaths and injuries sustained by plaintiffs arose out of and were caused by the extrajudicial killing of the deceased servicemen, whose estates are represented in this action.

Each of the requirements under Section 1605(a)(7) are met in this case as to each defendant.⁴ First, Iran has been designated a state sponsor of terrorism continuously since January 19, 1984. See 31 C.F.R. § 596.201 (2001); Flatow, 999 F.Supp. at 11, ¶ 19. Though Iran was not designated as a state sponsor of terrorism on the date of the attack at issue, its designation as such shortly thereafter was due in part to their assistance in perpetrating this attack, and therefore satisfies the requirements of Section 1605. See Prevatt, 421 F.Supp.2d at 158. Second, as posited in their pleadings, each of the victims was a United States national at the time of the attack. Finally, defendants engaged in conduct that squarely falls within the ambit of Section 1605(a)(7) because it provided material support and resources to Hezbollah in order to facilitate the extrajudicial killing of American servicemen.⁵

Personal jurisdiction over a nonimmune foreign sovereign exists so long as service of process has been made...