International Terrorism Litigation
Crowell & Moring LLP has developed an active, successful, and unique practice in obtaining monetary relief for victims of international terrorism and their loved ones. Members of the team have tried to judgment eight cases in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in this area, and have several more cases pending in that court or at the pre-litigation investigation or administrative stage.
Representative matters handled by our team include lawsuits by former hostages held in Lebanon against the Islamic Republic of Iran; lawsuits by other victims of terrorism against Libya for aircraft sabotage and political assassination; administrative and legislative efforts involving claims by victims of the bombing of the United States Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya; claims against Iran by victims of the bombing of the United States Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon in 1983; and proceedings arising from terrorist activities in several other foreign countries. Team members also have actively participated as lead counsel or amici counsel in several civil terrorism cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Terrorism proceedings involve complex application of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, 28 USC. §§ 1602, et seq.; the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 USC. §§ 2671, et seq.; the Torture Victims Protection Act of 1991, 28 USC. § 1350 note; the Export Administration Act of 1979, 50 USC. § 2405(j); the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, 22 USC. § 2371; the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, 28 USC. 1605 § (a)(7); the Alien Tort Claim Act, 28 USC. § 1350; and the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act of 2000, Public Law 106-386. Team members have substantial experience in these statutes, and their application to possible avenues of monetary redress for damages suffered as the result of international terrorism. In fact, Crowell & Moring LLP played a substantial role in the enactment of the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act of 2000, which led to the payment of several of the above-mentioned compensatory damages judgments against Iran.