Professor Peter Raven-Hansen and two GW Law alums were among a team of attorneys awarded Public Justice’s 2016 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award for their work in obtaining a jury verdict for American victims of terrorist attacks against an international bank for providing material support to Hamas, a U.S. designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. The Award is given annually by Public Justice, a national non-profit firm aimed at ending injustice in the courts. The alums were Gary Osen, JD '92, lead counsel during the 11-year litigation (and Professor Raven-Hansen’s one-time student research assistant), and Richard Heideman, JD '72.
Linde v. Arab Bank was originally filed by Gary Osen and Professor Raven-Hansen and later evolved into a mass tort case consolidating 40 wrongful death claims with claims of 117 plaintiffs who were injured in suicide bombings and attacks in Israel and claims of 440 family members of those injured or killed. The plaintiffs claimed that Arab Bank – with branches in Gaza and the West Bank -- knowingly provided financial support to terrorist leaders and the families of terrorist operatives, including suicide bombers. This case marked the first time that a financial institution has been brought to trial–and held liable–under the Antiterrorism Act, which provides a treble damage remedy for American victims of international terrorism and their families.
The plaintiffs proved that Arab Bank administered a Saudi-funded payment program for the benefit of Palestinian terrorists killed, injured, or apprehended by Israeli security forces. For years, the Saudi program authorized payments of up to $5,316 to identified terrorists and their families. The plaintiffs also proved that Arab Bank knowingly held active accounts for leaders and senior operatives of Hamas, as well as for Hamas fronts. The jury found the Bank liable for knowingly providing material support to Hamas and facilitating terror attacks like those that killed or injured the plaintiffs.
Although the Linde case was ultimately successful, it took over a decade before the team of attorneys was able to bring the case to trial. The team overcame many hurdles, including Arab Bank’s refusal to give discovery concerning Hamas accounts (to protect the privacy of Hamas leaders and operatives, including some who were designated by the U.S. government as Specially Designated Global Terrorists), and the Bank’s interlocutory appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals challenging court-imposed sanctions for that refusal. Professor Raven-Hansen successfully argued the Defendant’s motion to dismiss as well as the appeal of the sanctions.
The parties in Linde reached a confidential settlement agreement on the eve of the first scheduled damages trial in August of 2015. Read more about this case from our 2014 interview with Professor Raven-Hansen.
The full team consisted of Peter Raven-Hansen of Washington, DC; Gary M. Osen, Cindy T. Schlanger, Ari Ungar, Aaron Schlanger and Naomi Weinberg of Osen LLC in Hackensack, N.J.; Joshua Glatter, formerly of Osen LLC; Tab Turner of Turner & Associates in North Little Rock, Ark.; Shawn Patrick Naunton of Zuckerman Spaeder in New York City; Margaret E. Lynaugh, formerly of Zuckerman Spaeder in New York; Steven Steingard and Stephen Schwartz of Kohn, Swift & Graf in Philadelphia, Pa. Michael E. Elsner, Jodi Westbrook Flowers, and John M. Eubanks of Motley Rice in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.; Ariel Mairone (formerly of Motley Rice); Gavriel Mairone of MM-Law in Chicago, IL, Mark Werbner of Sayles Werbner in Dallas, TX; Joel Israel, formerly of Sayles Werbner; James Bonner of Stone, Bonner & Rocco in Summit, N.J.; Noel Nudelman, Richard Heideman, and Tracy Reichman Kalik of Heideman, Nudelman & Kalik in Washington, DC; and Jonathan David of The David Law Firm in The Woodlands, Texas.
View more information on the Public Justice Trial Lawyers of the Year Award.