Damages Claims Related to Terrorist Plane Attacks
For obvious reasons, it can be highly difficult to recover damages from terrorist cells in a tort lawsuit for personal injury or wrongful death damages. Even assuming jurisdiction, service of process and obtaining a judgement, collecting damages will likely be impossible in most circumstances. Usually, service must be accomplished by publishing notice of the lawsuit in newspapers or magazines overseas and the terrorists organizations will not respond.
Nevertheless, the trial attorneys of Kreindler & Kreindler LLP have successfully represented the families of terrorist aviation attacks. After seven years of hard litigation, we established liability against Libya's national government for its role in the terrorist attack over Lockerbie, Scotland, and we recovered $10 million for each victim's family.
Lawyers for National or International Aviation Terrorism Cases
The key to developing an effective legal theory of recovery in a terrorist-related aviation disaster is to prove a relationship between the attack, a terrorist group and a state sponsor. National governments have been known to train, fund and otherwise support the activities of terrorist groups.
Ordinarily, sovereign governments can claim immunity under international and domestic law for tort claims, but our country's Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) specifies an exception for state sponsors of terrorism. Because Libya was designated as such a state sponsor at the time of the Lockerbie attack, and our lawyers were able to prove actual Libyan government support for the attack, we were able to hold that nation accountable for civil damages claims.
As of 2010, the list of state sponsors of terrorism is officially limited to Sudan, Iran, Syria and Cuba. Terrorist attacks that originated elsewhere or were supported by other countries can conceivably generate viable civil damages claims, but it will normally be necessary to prove additional facts against a responsible defendant.
For example, equipment failure in airport security screening or negligent performance by security contractors could support a plaintiff's claim for damages against a solvent or insured defendant. Kreindler & Kreindler's experience with the evaluation of terrorist-related aviation attacks can give you a good idea of the practical strength of your case under a wide range of circumstances. For more information about this aspect of our aviation disaster practice, contact us in New York, Boston or Los Angeles.
