70 results for 'cat:"Terrorism"'.
J. Restrepo finds that the district court properly conducted a trial and sentencing of defendant for threatening to assault FBI agents over social media. Under the context of the indictment, defendant's posts can be understood as constituting threats. Additionally, while the courtroom was closed during portions of the trial's voir dire proceeding, it was only closed for portions of the proceeding. Affirmed.
Court: 3rd Circuit, Judge: Restrepo, Filed On: September 20, 2024, Case #: 22-2983, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Threats, terrorism
Per curiam, the circuit finds that the district court properly convicted defendant of attempting to provide material support to the Taliban because the admission of expert testimony on the Taliban's "playbook" for recruiting foreign fighters was informative rather than prejudicial since the testimony had not been directly linked to defendant's conduct. Affirmed.
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: September 17, 2024, Case #: 22-618-cr, Categories: Evidence, terrorism
J. Leon partially grants the terrorist attack victims and their family members' motion for default judgment in their suit against the government of Syria alleging that it provided material support to Al-Qaeda in Iraq, which then used that support to perpetrate the relevant attacks. Across four victims, three spouses and a child, $229,976,708 is awarded.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Leon, Filed On: September 16, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv1237, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: International Law, terrorism, Damages
Per curiam, a panel of the Third Circuit finds that the district court properly denied a felon’s petition for lack of jurisdiction and litany of motions, including a motion for bail pending appeal, a motion for summary reversal and a motion for declaratory judgment amounting to a challenge to his criminal judgment after he was convicted of terrorism-related crimes. The felon raised no substantial issue on appeal. Affirmed.
Court: 3rd Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: September 13, 2024, Case #: 24-1943, Categories: terrorism, Jurisdiction
J. Faruqui grants the servicemembers, their estates and their family members punitive damages in their suit alleging that the government of Iran aided 63 terrorist attacks in Iraq in the aftermath of the U.S. invasion. The damages, totaling just under $656.4 million, are warranted under the terrorism exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act because the servicemembers have alleged that Iran's support to terrorist groups was critical to their activities. Iran has "substantial wealth" as a sovereign nation and the large judgment could act as a deterrence.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Faruqui, Filed On: September 13, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv622, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: International Law, terrorism, Damages
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J. Cooper partially adopts the findings and recommendations of nine special masters in a suit brought by soldiers, their family members and estates against the government of Iran alleging that it provided funding, weapons and support to terrorist organizations and militias that injured or killed the soldiers in various terrorist attacks. The special masters' findings as to 12 "bellwether" attacks for which the court has already found Iran liable are largely upheld, but the court makes several alterations, including findings that pain and suffering damages are not appropriate for a servicemember shot in the head without evidence that he suffered before his death and that downward departures are warranted in scenarios with children who do not remember their deceased parents.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Cooper, Filed On: September 9, 2024, Case #: 1:18cv2248, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: International Law, terrorism, Military
J. Katsas finds that the district court improperly dismissed legal malpractice claims in which an estate contends a law firm did not follow up on terrorism-related claims for a larger judgment because the firm had no way of knowing about the subsequent seizure of Iran's assets. Affirmed.
Court: DC Circuit, Judge: Katsas, Filed On: September 6, 2024, Case #: 22-7171, Categories: terrorism, Legal Malpractice
[Consolidated.] J. Walker finds that the district court properly dismissed Sudan's interlocutory appeal from the finding that exceptions applied to sovereign immunity in multidistrict litigation brought by individuals and families harmed by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Sudan, accused of offering years of material support to Al-Qaeda, cited the collateral-order doctrine, but the court had not entered a final order and certification for appeal was not being offered. Dismissal is without prejudice, and thus claims may be reinstated following entry of final judgment. Affirmed.
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Walker, Filed On: September 3, 2024, Case #: 23-1319(L), Categories: Civil Procedure, terrorism, Immunity
J. Smith finds that the district court properly denied a habeas corpus petition challenging a magistrate judge’s certification of defendant as extraditable to India for his alleged participation in terrorist attacks in Mumbai. India provided sufficient competent evidence to support the magistrate judge’s findings. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Smith, Filed On: August 15, 2024, Case #: 23-1827, Categories: Evidence, Habeas, terrorism
J. Contreras grants substitution motions and a motion for default judgment to the family members of 17 Navy sailors killed in the 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in their suit alleging that the Islamic Republic of Iran materially supported the attackers. The family members are awarded a total of $243 million in solatium damages, injured and traumatized surviving sailors are awarded $188 million in pain and suffering damages, immediate family members of those sailors are awarded $58 million in solatium damages, and the plaintiffs are collectively awarded $1.467 billion in punitive damages.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Contreras, Filed On: July 29, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv1187, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: International Law, terrorism, Damages
J. Boasberg partially grants the terrorist attack survivors' supplemental motion for default judgment against the Islamic Republic of Iran and Syrian Arab Republic in their suit alleging that both states supported the attacks that injured them. While the survivors were not killed in the attacks, they have now established that, for all those injured in attacks where someone was killed, the attacks qualify as "extrajudicial killings," so the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act is waived. One survivor is not granted default judgment, since no one was killed in the attack that injured him.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Boasberg, Filed On: July 29, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv3859, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: International Law, terrorism
J. Walton grants default judgment to the families of two servicemen allegedly kidnapped, tortured and killed by the Islamic State in Baghdad in a suit alleging that Syrian authorities materially supported the terrorist organization. The District of the District of Columbia has subject-matter and personal jurisdiction over the claims in this case, and the families have adequately pleaded their claims to support default judgment.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Walton, Filed On: July 17, 2024, Case #: 1:18cv385, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: International Law, terrorism, Jurisdiction
J. Calabresi finds that the district court improperly resentenced defendant without a hearing for attempting to join a terrorist organization and kill Americans abroad. One count was invalidated by intervening precedent, and the new judge was not aware of the intricacies of the matter; thus, full de novo resentencing is required based on defendant's request for a hearing on claims of changed circumstances affecting another count.
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Calabresi, Filed On: July 16, 2024, Case #: 21-1247-pr, Categories: Sentencing, Due Process, terrorism
J. Wilkinson finds the lower court properly resentenced the defendant to 516 months imprisonment. The defendant was charged for his involvement in a violent jihadist plot to commit terrorism. However, The Supreme Court held that certain applications of a statute under which he was twice convicted were unconstitutional, so two of his five charges were set aside. The defendant argued the lower court committed a procedural error at resentencing and impermissibly sentenced him based on facts not found by the jury. The defendant claims the court violated his Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial because it sentenced him to a greater sentence than allowed by the facts found by the jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Although error did occur when the court failed to ask the jury to find him guilty of conspiracy to murder versus conspiracy to maim or injure, it was harmless because it wouldn't affect his concurrent 514-month sentence for conspiring to kill members of the U.S. military. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Wilkinson, Filed On: July 9, 2024, Case #: 22-4317, Categories: Sentencing, terrorism, Jury Instructions
J. Faruqui largely grants compensatory damages to the U.S. servicemembers and others who were injured in terrorist attacks in Iraq, along with the families and estates of those who died in those attacks. Requested pain-and-suffering damages are granted to a handful of estates whose decedents were alive for some time between the attack that killed them and their deaths, but not for 43 others. Family members who have not provided evidence that they were close with deceased soldiers also have not adequately established that they are entitled to damages by default. Several other downward departures are also warranted by the evidence provided.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Faruqui, Filed On: June 30, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv622, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: International Law, terrorism, Damages
J. Friedrich denies the servicemembers, government employees, contractors and their families' motion for default judgment in their suit against the Islamic Republic of Iran seeking damages for an attack on an air base in Iraq. Those hurt in the attack have not shown that it was an "extrajudicial killing" or "aircraft sabotage" creating an exception to sovereign immunity for state sponsors of terrorism. One officer's post-traumatic stress and subsequent suicide does not qualify as an "extrajudicial killing." They also have not provided evidence that the attack was intended to harm civilians or civilian aviation, nor that such an effort caused their injuries.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Friedrich, Filed On: June 17, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv477, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: International Law, terrorism, Immunity
J. Howell grants the injured person and her family's motion for default judgment against the Islamic Republic of Iran in their action alleging that it materially supported members of Hamas who bombed a bus she was riding on in 2003. Iran had by then been designated a state sponsor of terrorism and the bombing was an "extrajudicial killing," so it is not immune from suit. The injured person and her family have also adequately demonstrated that she was a victim of assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress and that the family also suffered intentionally-inflicted emotional distress. They are awarded compensatory and punitive damages totaling $22.5 million.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Howell, Filed On: June 17, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv2639, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: International Law, terrorism, Assault
J. Harvey grants the special forces members' families' renewed motion for leave to serve the Jordanian soldier who opened fire on special forces at a Jordanian air base by publishing notice in a Jordanian newspaper and in Global Legal Notices. The newspaper the families propose to publish notice in is likely to be accessible to the Jordanian soldier, whichever prison he may be in, and service by publication will not cause offense to foreign law, since Jordan is not a party to the Hague Service Convention or any other applicable international agreement. The content of the proposed notice is also clear, concise, and written in the soldier's language.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Harvey, Filed On: June 14, 2024, Case #: 1:18cv2649, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: International Law, terrorism, Due Process
Per curiam, the court finds the lower court properly convicted the defendant. The defendant gained international notoriety as a member of "the Beatles," a group of terrorists working for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham who kidnapped hostages, freeing some and executing others. They gained the nickname because they originated from the United Kingdom and had British accents. After being captured by a U.S.-backed militia, they were interrogated without being told their Miranda rights. The defendant contends the un-Mirandized false identity statements he made upon his capture in Syria were inadmissible and that even though he had been provided with a Miranda-style Advice of Rights form before making certain statements to FBI agents while in the militia's custody, those statements were nonetheless inadmissible because they were tainted by earlier, un-Mirandized intelligence-gathering interviews conducted. The mistake was harmless. The evidence of the defendant's false identity statements provided some evidence of his consciousness of guilt. Still, it was not a significant part of the government’s case relevant to that issue or any other matter leading to his convictions. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: June 7, 2024, Case #: 22-4496, Categories: Miranda, Kidnapping, terrorism
J. Abramson finds the trial court properly denied the accused neighbor's motion for a new trial. Evidence shows the accused's boyfriend smoked marijuana with the accuser's son, and that police were called on numerous occasions for reasons including shots being fired, cat traps being set and a hanging of the accuser's family dog from a deer stand. The jury reasonably awarded the accuser $114,000 in damages for past, present, and future distress arising from her divorce, her move away from her childhood home, the loss of her job, her need for therapy and her fear of making friends. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abramson , Filed On: June 5, 2024, Case #: CV-23-117, Categories: Tort, terrorism, Damages
J. Merkl mostly denies a motion to file under seal a third amended Anti-Terrorist Act complaint against a group of 13 Lebanese banks, which were sued by those injured or killed in overseas terrorist attacks committed by Hezbollah. The court finds the presumption of access far outweighs the litigants’ concerns for privacy, but grants the motion to seal customers’ bank account numbers if the parties are unable to truncate that information.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Merkl, Filed On: May 23, 2024, Case #: 1:19cv7, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: terrorism
J. Jordan finds that the district court properly sentenced defendant to 192 months in prison following his guilty plea to attempting to provide material support to the foreign terrorist organization ISIS. Defendant ran two unofficial ISIS media networks directed at Spanish speakers. The district court correctly found that the government did not violate a proffer letter agreement promising not to use statements made by defendant during the proffer against him unless they concerned violent acts. Evidence of a video threatening the assassination of a Spanish judge which included English subtitles inserted by defendant fell under the exclusion for evidence concerning violent acts. The district court correctly applied the terrorism sentencing enhancement. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Jordan, Filed On: May 23, 2024, Case #: 22-10419, Categories: Sentencing, terrorism
J. Jenkins fully denies one insurance company’s motion to dismiss a class action, and partially denies the same motion by another. The class action, brought by construction companies, alleges the insurance companies overcharged class members for “terrorism insurance” premiums under the 2019 Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act. The class representative masonry company has abandoned several of its claims for contract and fiduciary duty breach, which the court dismisses, but the remaining claims stand.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Jenkins, Filed On: May 16, 2024, Case #: 1:24cv1338, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, terrorism, Class Action
J. Howell grants default judgment to the family members of servicemembers killed or injured in a 1996 Hezbollah bombing at a Saudi apartment complex in their action alleging that the Islamic Republic of Iran materially supported Hezbollah and directed the attack. The family members and servicemembers have provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate that Iran is not immune from suit and is liable for damages totaling $68,500,000.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Howell, Filed On: May 16, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv793, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: International Law, terrorism
J. Hudson finds the county court properly denied the inmate's petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Defendant was convicted for battery and committing a terroristic act for firing a weapon into an occupied vehicle, causing injury. Though sufficient evidence supports the convictions, defendant says the presiding special judge was not properly appointed, and also makes double jeopardy claims. Defendant offers no evidence the judge's appointment failed to comply with procedure, and a challenge to the appointment of a special judge is not cognizable in habeas proceedings. The acts of firing the weapon multiple times and the result of the victim being injured are legally separate charges, and double jeopardy does not apply. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Supreme Court, Judge: Hudson , Filed On: May 9, 2024, Case #: CV-23-633, Categories: Habeas, Battery, terrorism
J. Wood finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for murder, committing a terroristic act and tampering with evidence based on sufficient evidence. The 13-year-old witness testified a "splat-ball" game was happening in the neighborhood when he saw defendant fire a gun at a carload of teenagers. The witness ran when he heard a loud bang, returning later the find the 8-year-old victim dead from a gunshot wound to the head. The court's application of a firearm enhancement to the murder and terroristic-act convictions does not constitute a double-jeopardy violation. No error is found in the court's not accepting defendant's proffered jury instructions for second-degree murder and manslaughter. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wood , Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: CR-23-525, Categories: Murder, Child Victims, terrorism
J. Lamberth finds the Islamic Republic of Iran liable for $18,780,353.09 in compensatory damages and $56,341,059.27 in punitive damages after finding that it materially supported attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq during the U.S. occupation of that country.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Lamberth, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 1:17cv131, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: International Law, terrorism