US appeals court reinstates ruling allowing American terror victims to sue PA, PLO

Court’s decision restores 2015 federal jury verdict awarding $656 million to plaintiffs who were victims of terror attacks in Israel, decade after court overturned judgement

NEW YORK — A $656 million judgment against Palestinian authorities has been reinstated by appeals judges, following a US Supreme Court ruling in favor of Americans killed or wounded in terror attacks in Israel.

The decision from the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals comes a decade after it first tossed out a verdict against the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority on the grounds that US courts couldn’t consider lawsuits against foreign groups over overseas attacks that were not aimed at the United States.

But the appeals court reinstated the judgment in light of a Supreme Court ruling last June upholding a 2019 law enacted by Congress to allow the victims’ lawsuits to go forward against the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority.

“We conclude that the original judgment for the plaintiffs should be reinstated. That conclusion is consistent with the plain import of the Supreme Court’s decision,” the judges said in a decision dated March 30.

“Our client families are very relieved that the court has reinstated the judgment without requiring a new trial. They have been waiting for a very long time for justice to be done,” attorney Kent Yalowitz said in an email.

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, another attorney for the plaintiffs, said she was pleased with the decision after 22 years of litigation.

The victims had sued under the Anti-Terrorism Act, which was signed into law in 1992 to open US courts to victims of international terror attacks.

The plaintiffs won $656 million in a 2015 federal jury verdict, but it was overturned a year later by an appellate court.

The lead plaintiff, Mark Sokolow, his wife, and two of his daughters were injured in a Jerusalem suicide bombing in 2002 that killed an 81-year-old man. His fellow plaintiffs are families of victims of terrorist attacks in Israel that killed 33, including several Americans, and wounded over 450.

Their suit argued that the late PLO chairman Yasser Arafat had paid attackers and their families, and that they had standing to sue his organization under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The Palestinians have consistently argued that the cases shouldn’t be allowed in American courts.

Emails seeking comment were sent to attorneys for the defendants on Sunday.

Agencies and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.