U.S. Quashes Attachment by Terrorism Victim Against Iranian Property

On November 15, 1999, the U.S. Government obtained an order to quash the writ of attachment entered by the Clerk of the Court on November 18, 1998, that purported to attach “all credits held by the U.S. to the benefit of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” including U.S. Treasury funds owned to Iran in accordance with an award of the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal, to satisfy part of his prior judgment against Iran for terrorism actions. The battle concerns Stephen Flatow, who maintains that certain amendments to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act waive the U.S.’ sovereign immunity with respect to U.S. funds owed to judgment debtors. In issuing the order, the court found that Congress has not clearly and unequivocally waived the U.S.’ sovereign immunity. The case concerns an incident in April 1995, in which Alisa Flatow, plaintiff Stephen Flatow’s 20-year-old daughter, was killed in a terrorist bombing of a tourist bus in Israel. The terrorist group responsible for the suicide bombing mission, the Shaqaqui faction of the Palestine Islamic Jihad, is funded exclusively by the Islamic Republic of Iran…[more]