United States Seventh Circuit

In a suit arising from the murder of an American in Israel, alleging that defendants, three organizations and one individual, had provided financial support to Hamas, whose gunmen allegedly committed the murder, and that plaintiffs were entitled to recover against defendants under 18 U.S.C. section 2333(a), judgments against all defendants, and award of treble damages, are affirmed in part and reversed in part by the court sitting en banc where: 1) section 2333 does create tort liability for the financial supporters of terrorist groups targeting Americans outside the U.S.; 2) two of the defendant organizations had not contradicted plaintiffs' evidence on the only material fact at issue, namely that Hamas was responsible for the murder, and were properly held liable under section 2333; but 3) with respect to the third defendant organization, collateral estoppel effect could not be given to a prior order freezing defendant's funds, and remand was necessary for a new determination of whether defendant was knowingly supporting terrorism; and 4) the individual defendant had not rendered material support to Hamas subsequent to the passage of a related criminal statute upon which the tort liability was based, and was not subject to liability.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/03/2008
• Published 12/03/2008

Judges

• POSNER, Circuit Judge., Before EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge, and POSNER, FLAUM, KANNE, ROVNER, WOOD, EVANS, WILLIAMS, SYKES, and TINDER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Seventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Joseph A. Morris, Morris & De La Rosa, Chicago, IL, for Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago., Daniel Elbaum, Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan K. Baum, Katten Muchin Rosenman, Chicago, IL, for Anti-Defamation League., Thomas P. Walsh, Office of United States Attorney, Chicago, IL for U.S., Leon F. DeJulius, Jr., Jones Day, Pittsburgh, PA, for OMB Watch., Andrea Bierstein, Hanly Conroy Bierstein Sheridan Fisher & Hayes, New York, NY, for 9/11 Families United to Bankrupt Terrorism., David Yerushalmi, Washington, DC, Center for Security Policy., Richard A. Samp, Washington Legal Foundation, Washington, DC, for Washington Legal Foundation, Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs and Allied Educational Foundation.


• For Appellees:
  
• Stephen J. Landes (argued), Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon, Chicago, IL, Nathan Lewin (argued), Lewin & Lewin, Washington, DC, for Plaintiffs-Appellees., John W. Boyd (argued), Freedman, Boyd, Daniels, Peifer, Hollander, Guttman & Goldbe, Albuquerque, NM, for Defendant-Appellant Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development in No. 05-1815., Matthew J. Piers (argued), Mary M. Rowland, Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, for Defendant-Appellant Mohammad Abdul Hamid Khalil Salah in No. 05-1816., John M. Beal, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellant Quaranic Literacy Institute in No. 05-1821., James R. Fennerty, Brendan Shiller, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellant American Muslim Society in No. 05-1822.