Suing for Damages Arising From Terrorist Attacks Sponsored by Iran

In Estate of Heiser v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 659 F. Supp. 2d 20 (D.D.C. 2009), and Estate of Heiser v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 466 F. Supp. 2d 229 (D.D.C. 2006), the plaintiffs secured judgments for more than $590 million for the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. In Acosta v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 574 F. Supp. 2d 15 (D.D.C. 2008), the plaintiffs received a judgment of more than $350 million because of a 1990 mass shooting. In Bennett v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 507 F. Supp. 2d 117 (D.D.C. 2007), the plaintiffs obtained a judgment for damages of nearly $13 million for Irans role in the 2002 bombing of a cafeteria at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In Greenbaum v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 451 F. Supp. 2d 90 (D.D.C. 2006), the plaintiffs were awarded almost $20 million for damages suffered as a result of the bombing of a Jerusalem restaurant in 2001. Collectively, the judgments total nearly $1 billion. Although all the judgments were taken by default, it is undisputed that all are valid final judgments and that Iran owes the amounts of those judgments to the respective plaintiffs.