Legal News

2nd Circuit Immunizes Saudis from September 11 Suit

By Dan Slater

The Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act has functioned to provide immunity to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, four princes and other Saudi entities from a lawsuit filed by victims of the September 11 attacks and their families.

Today, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2006 ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Casey dismissing a claim against the Saudis. Here’s the ruling. The victims and their families argued that because the defendants gave money to Muslim charities that in turn gave money to al Qaeda, they should be held responsible for helping to finance the attacks.

Jerry S. Goldman, a partner at Anderson Kill & Olick who represents the estate of John P. O’Neill Sr., a former FBI agent who died on 9/11 while helping to evacuate the World Trade Center, said in a statement:

Under the Court’s rationale, were a New Yorker to be side-swiped by a car driven by an employee of the Saudi embassy, they could sue for the bumps and bruises that they suffered and the damage to their vehicle, yet the nearly 3,000 families of those innocents who were brutally killed in lower Manhattan, rural Pennsylvania and the Pentagon cannot pursue their claims. Additionally, those who plan, conspire and provide support for terrorists, from havens abroad, cannot be held accountable for their actions in our Courts, according to today’s ruling.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on August 14, 2008 (boomark / email).