Together with an experienced team of other law firms, Osen LLC represents families of American victims of the October 7, 2023, atrocities committed by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (“PIJ”) as well as the families of American citizens serving in the Israel Defense Forces who have been killed or injured during the conflict with Hamas since October 7.
With certain exceptions, those families are eligible to pursue claims under both the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”) against foreign State Sponsors of Terrorism like Iran and Syria and their agencies and instrumentalities or under the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (“JASTA”) amendment to the Anti-Terrorism Act (“ATA”) against individuals or corporations that knowingly and substantially assisted Hamas or PIJ.
Iran, Syria, and other State Sponsors of Terrorism almost never defend themselves in American courts (they “default”), and it is therefore relatively easy to obtain a judgment against them. However, enforcing a judgment against a State Sponsor of Terrorism is very difficult and rare because they have few if any assets in the United States. Most claimants file their judgments with the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund which is currently open until 2039 and pays out small percentages of the compensatory (rather than punitive) damages components of judgments. The fund makes these payments approximately every two years.
Unlike FSIA cases, defendants almost always appear in JASTA lawsuits and hire large law firms to defend them. JASTA cases are very hard fought, complex, take a great deal of time and resources to litigate, and require specialized expertise. That said, potentially collectible judgments in JASTA cases are much larger than in FSIA default cases and have a greater impact on impeding the flow of funds to terrorist organizations.
Osen LLC litigates more active JASTA cases involving Hamas terrorism than any other law firm in the United States and has a 20-year track record of building cases that target Hamas’s financial infrastructure. For example, the firm served as co-lead counsel in Linde v. Arab Bank, PLC, which led to the first civil terror financing trial against a financial institution under the ATA. After a six-week trial, a jury found Arab Bank liable for 24 terrorist attacks committed by Hamas, and the case later settled for an undisclosed sum. The firm also serves as lead counsel in Bartlett v. Société Générale De Banque Au Liban Sal, the leading Hezbollah terror financing case brought under JASTA, and in multiple Hamas financing cases pending in federal courts in New York.
