Overview
On February 28, 2018 U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth, for the District of Columbia, ordered the Republic of Iran to pay $920 million to 80 families of soldiers and other military service members who were killed or injured in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. The Beirut Marine Barracks bombing, which killed 241 American service members and injured numerous others, was the deadliest state-sponsored terrorist attack against United States citizens before September 11, 2001.
Case Background
Cohen Milstein filed the lawsuit in 2014 in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act against the Iranian government on behalf of more than 80 family members of soldiers who were killed or injured in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, as well as soldiers who were injured in the attack. The attack was carried out by the terrorist organization Hezbollah, at the direction and with the support of Iran.
To date, Iran has not participated in the lawsuit, making the ruling a default judgment. However, under the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund, the plaintiffs can receive compensatory damages. The lawsuit is one of several against Iran for participating in state-sponsored terrorism.