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Iraq Complaint Justiciable
On June 24, 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit remanded the matter of Robert Simon et al. v. Republic of Iraq et al., docket number 06-7175, to the district court for further proceedings.
Relying on an exception in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, FSIA, the plaintiffs sued Iraq, the Iraqi intelligence service and Saddam Hussein alleging they had been tortured and taken hostage during the Gulf War. Although foreign sovereigns are normally protected from lawsuits, the exception in the FSIA, 28 USC §1605(a)(7), allows for lawsuits against state sponsors of terrorism. The district court dismissed the lawsuit, however, on the basis that the actions were untimely, coming two years after the ten year limitation.
On appeal, Iraq newly contended that the §1083 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, NDAA, which revised the terrorism exception by repealing §1605(a)(7) of Title 28 and adding §1605A of Title 28, required dismissal of the cases. The new section mostly strengthened plaintiffs' ability to seek damages from state sponsors of terrorism, though §1083(d) allowed the President to waive §1083 with respect to Iraq, which he promptly did in order to protect its reconstruction.
Based on the text and structure of the NDAA, circuit judge Ginsberg wrote that the appeals court concluded that the courts retained jurisdiction over cases pending pursuant to former §1605(a)(7) when the Congress enacted the NDAA. The court found the actions to be timely and liable to be tried in court and, therefore, reversed the district court's dismissal. -- Genevieve Cohoon, legal assistant, Berliner, Corcoran & Rowe, LLP, Washington.
Thu, / Embassy Law Link