Best’s News & Research Service - April 03, 2018 02:11 PM (EDT)
Judge Sides With Insurers, Allows Litigation Over 9/11 Attacks to Move Forward
NEW YORK //BestWire// - A federal judge sided with a consortium of insurance companies, allowing them to move forward in a lawsuit against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — seeking at least $4.2 billion in damages over the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
Judge George Daniels, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, based in Manhattan, ruled changes in U.S. law have removed previous barriers to the litigation. His order was in response to a motion to dismiss filed by attorneys for the kingdom.
He ruled insurance company attorneys can conduct discovery as to the relationship between the attacks and alleged Saudi agents Fahad al Thumairy and Omar al Bayoumi.
“Accepting plaintiffs’ well-pled allegation as true for purposes of resolving the instant motion, plaintiffs have therefore articulated a reasonable basis for Saudi Arabia to be held response for the conduct of its agents, Thumairy and Bayoumi, as well as those whom they appointed as subagents,” Daniels wrote in the opinion.
“Since, however, the nature and scope of the agency is somewhat unclear in this case, and the party in the best position to shed light on that inquiry is Saudi Arabia,” Daniels said, “plaintiffs shall be permitted to conduct limited and targeted discovery whether and to what extent Thumairy, Bayoumi and their agents took action in 2000, at the direction of more senior Saudi officials, to provide assistance to (the) 9/11 hijackers.”
Thumairy and Bayoumi were accused of helping two hijackers acclimate themselves to the United States and begin preparing for the attacks.
In the original complaint, about two dozen insurers affiliated with Travelers Cos. filed a lawsuit against two Saudi banks and a host of charities and companies with alleged ties to al-Qaida. Saudi Arabia and its instrumentality, the Saudi High Commission, were later added to the litigation.
Approximately 3,000 people died when hijacked jets crashed into New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where one of four planes seized by the al-Qaida terrorists went down.
There is no credible link between the 19 terrorists and the kingdom, said attorney Michael K. Kellogg in a motion filed on behalf of the Saudis (Best’s News Service, Aug. 8, 2017).
The judge ruled the kingdom’s previous legal status — in which it enjoyed broad immunity to litigation over the 9/11 attacks — was changed in 2016 with the passage by Congress of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. The new law allowed the judge to assert jurisdiction over such claims against Saudi Arabia.
In the ruling, the judge dismissed claims against two Saudi banks, National Commercial Bank and Al Rajhi Bank, Saudi Binladin Group, a construction company controlled by the bin Laden family, and Saudi charities, saying he lacked jurisdiction.
Attempts to reach attorneys for Saudi Arabia for comment were unsuccessful.
(By Frank Klimko, Washington correspondent, BestWeek: Frank.Klimko@ambest.com)