US Court
Orders Iran to Pay $10.5 Billion to Sept. 11
Families, Insurers
By David
Israel
March 11, 2016 "Information
Clearing House"
- "Jewish
Press"
-
US District
Judge George Daniels in New York on Wednesday issued
a default judgment against Iran for $7.5 billion
that will go to the estates and families of World
Trade Center and Pentagon Victims, and $3 billion to
insurers including Chubb Ltd. that paid property
damage, business interruption and other claims for
the 9/11 losses, Bloomberg reported.
The
payments to families and estates include $2 million
to each estate for the victims’ pain and suffering
as well as $6.88 million in punitive damages.
The judge
said that Iran had given active support to the
terrorists who brought down the towers and killed
close to 3,000 Americans in New York City,
Washington and Pennsylvania. He also found that Iran
had failed to defend claims that it aided the
September 11 hijackers and was therefore liable for
damages tied to the attacks.
Iran is
probably not going to pay the judgment, ever.
Hossein Sheikholeslam, a senior aide to Iran’s
parliamentary speaker, told Sputnik, “I never heard
about this ruling and I’m very much surprised
because the judge had no reason whatsoever to issue
such a ruling… Iran never took part in any court
hearings related to the events of September 11,
2001. Even if such an absurd and ridiculous decision
has been made, the charges simply hold no water
because Iran has never been mentioned at any stage
of the investigation and the trials that followed.”
But even
though it is difficult to collect damages from any
uncooperative foreign nation, much less from Iran,
the plaintiffs could try to collect at least part of
the judgments via a law that lets parties to tap
terrorists’ assets frozen by the government.
About the Author:
David writes news at
JewishPress.com.
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