Judge Says Iran, Terror Groups Owe $6B For 9/11 By Lana Birbrair July 30, 2012 Law360 – HYPERLINK http://www.law360.com/classaction/articles/365185/judge-says-iran-terror-groups-owe-6b-for-9-11 \t _blank http://www.law360.com/classaction/articles/365185/judge-says-iran-terror-groups-owe-6b-for-9-11 New York (July 30, 2012, 9:36 PM ET) -- The Iranian government, Hezbollah, the Taliban and al-Qaida owe more than $6 billion in damages to family members of nearly 60 victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a New York magistrate judge found Monday in multidistrict litigation brought by the victims’ family members. After U.S. District Judge George Daniels found in December that top Iranian officials and state agencies had given al-Qaida assistance that helped it carry out the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, U.S. Magistrate Judge Frank Maas issued a report and recommendation finding that victims' families were owed more than $6 billion, plus prejudgment interest, in damages by a group including both sovereign and nonsovereign defendants. Although the damages are largely symbolic, Andrew J. Maloney of http://firms/kreindler-kreindler \t _blank Kreindler & Kreindler LLP noted that having a formal judgment in place could force Iran to pay up if the country ever wants to abandon its support of terrorist activities and become “a good citizen of the world.” Maloney, whose firm is currently serving as liaison counsel for the plaintiffs' steering committee, pointed out that his firm had achieved something very similar in 2002 when it reached a settlement with Libya, which agreed to pay $2.7 billion to the families of the 270 people killed on Pan Am Flight 103 in exchange for the lifting of United Nations and U.S. trade sanctions on the country. “In a way, [the damages] are symbolic, but I don't think they’re meaningless,” Maloney said. “It shows that we have a civil justice system in this country that runs parallel to criminal justice, and it's one of the ways that individual Americans can hold even the biggest Goliath, like a nation or a large corporation, accountable. And if that corporation or nation wants to do business with the U.S. or our allies, they'll have to figure out a way to deal with a judgment like this.” Stephen A. Corr of http://firms/mellon-webster \t _blank Mellon & Webster PC, an attorney for the families directly affected by the judgment, also noted that his firm would attempt to collect the judgment through the seizure of Iranian assets throughout the world. In the report, Judge Maas recommended $394 million in economic damages based on an analysis performed by a forensic economist that took into account the loss of past and future wages and benefits; household services; advice, counsel and training services; and accompaniment services, calculated on the assumption that the deceased men and women would have worked until the age of 67. Taking into account the difficulty of accounting for individuals' pain and suffering, which may have differed depending on whether they were in the North or South Tower of the World Trade Center, in a plane, at the Pentagon, or on the ground, Judge Maas concluded that damages of $2 million per decedent would be fair and reasonable, totaling $94 million in pain and suffering damages for the 47 estate victims — legal representatives of the deceased individuals — affected in this particular judgment. The remainder of the $6 billion figure was made up of $874 million in solatium damages reserved for 110 spouses, children, parents and siblings of the deceased and $4.7 billion in punitive damages. The case, brought under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and the Alien Tort Claims Act, originated in Washington federal court in February 2002 and was later consolidated with others. The defendants include Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei, the Iranian central bank, the National Iranian Oil Co. and Iran Air. The plaintiffs are represented by Mellon & Webster PC, Kreindler & Kreindler LLP and http://firms/motley-rice \t _blank Motley Rice LLC, among others. The case is In re: Terrorist Attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, case number http://cases/4d36c76d6fa8ad39b1000012 \t _blank 1:03-md-01570, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York --Additional reporting by Derek Hawkins. Editing by Elizabeth Bowen.