Holding Foreign Governments Accountable for Damages in Terrorist Attacks
Fay Kaplan Law represents American citizens with personal injury or wrongful death claims related to international terrorism. Our founding attorney, Thomas Fortune Fay, began working with the families and survivors of terrorist attacks after the 1983 Beirut bombing, and he pioneered the use of the federal Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) to recover civil and punitive damages against state sponsors of terrorism.
If you need legal advice about your right to compensation as a victim or survivor of a terrorist attack, contact our office in Washington, D.C. for a free consultation about your options. As well as representing clients in the District or Maryland, we serve the needs of American citizens anywhere in the country whose claims relate to attacks anywhere in the world. Under certain circumstances, we can also represent foreign nationals with terrorism-related claims against sovereign states.
Theoretically, you can sue individual terrorists or terrorist cells for tort damages related to an attack, but even if you could identify and get jurisdiction over such defendants, you may not recover any damages from them. Our approach at Fay Kaplan is to establish a link between a particular terrorist attack and the decisions or actions of a sponsoring state. If we can prove that a foreign nation planned, encouraged, funded or directed a terrorist attack, we can sue the nation itself under federal law.
Recovering Damages From State Sponsors of Terrorism
Traditional principles of international law and sovereign immunity generally prohibit a private citizen from suing a foreign state, government or head of state for any tort, including personal injury or wrongful death claims related to terrorism. Federal law has recognized certain specific exceptions to the sovereign immunity doctrine, however, including exceptions related to state terrorism. Fay Kaplan knows how to apply these exceptions to sovereign immunity for the benefit of the victims of international terrorism.
We have pursued civil damages claims under the FSIA against such nations as Iran, Libya and Sudan for incidents of terrorism, and we can pursue claims against any state terrorist sponsor for:
- Bombings
- Air or sea hijackings
- Kidnappings
- Piracy
- Hostage situations
- Torture
- Land mine injuries or deaths
Call our DC Office at 888-653-1119 for a Free Consultation
Find out more about our law firm's experience with civil litigation against foreign governments for terrorist attacks. Contact Fay Kaplan in Washington for a free consultation with one of our lawyers.
