Barry v. Islamic Republic of Iran

CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedFebruary 4, 2020
DocketCivil Action No. 2016-1625
StatusPublished

This text of Barry v. Islamic Republic of Iran (Barry v. Islamic Republic of Iran) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Barry v. Islamic Republic of Iran, (D.D.C. 2020).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

KEVIN BARRY, et al. : : Plaintiffs, : Civil Action No.: 16-1625 (RC) : v. : Re Document Nos.: 34, 49, 53, 54 : ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN, : : Defendant. :

MEMORANDUM OPINION

GRANTING IN PART SMITH PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR DEFAULT JUDGMENT ON LIABILITY; GRANTING SMITH PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO SUBSTITUTE; GRANTING IN PART SMITH PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO ADOPT SPECIAL MASTER’S REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION; DENYING AS MOOT SMITH PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR HEARINGS

I. INTRODUCTION

In 1983 and 1984, respectively, two terrorist attacks targeted American servicemembers

and embassy employees stationed in East Beirut, Lebanon. This Court, along with other courts

in this Circuit, has contended with the tragic impact of these bombings in a number of mass tort

lawsuits brought under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”). Presently before the

Court are the claims of hundreds of individuals who were either injured—in some cases fatally—

in these attacks while acting in their capacity as a U.S. government employee or contractor or

who are the immediate family members of such directly-injured individuals. Defendant Iran has

not entered an appearance in the more than three years since the suit was filed. This Court must

now decide whether to enter default judgment concerning liability for Plaintiffs and whether to

adopt the Special Master’s Report and Recommendation (“R. & R.” or “report”) concerning

damages. As set forth below, the Court finds that the majority of the Smith Plaintiffs have established liability and will enter default judgment concerning these individuals and, further,

adopts in part the Special Master’s suggested damages awards. 1

II. BACKGROUND

A. Procedural History

The instant suit was initially filed by seven individuals—the “Barry Plaintiffs”—who

were serving at the U.S. Embassy Annex in East Beirut, Lebanon at the time of the 1984

bombing. On November 14, 2017, the Court granted leave for hundreds of additional

plaintiffs—the “Smith Plaintiffs”—to intervene. See Order, ECF No. 14; see also Intervenor

Compl. by All Smith Plaintiffs (“Intervenor Compl.”), ECF No. 17. The Smith Plaintiffs, whose

motions are presently before the Court, fall into two categories.

The first category consists of individuals who were employed by or performing contracts

awarded by the U.S. government, or the estates of such individuals, at the time of the 1983

and/or 1984 bombings of the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Embassy Annex in Beirut, Lebanon. 2 See

Mem. Supporting Smith Pls.’ Renewed Consent Motion for Adoption of Administrative Plan

(“Mem. Supporting Smith Pls.’ Renewed Mot.”) 3, ECF No. 33-1. The second category of

Smith Plaintiffs consists of nearly four hundred immediate family members of directly-injured

individuals who “suffered emotional distress as a result of the attacks on their loved ones.” 3

Mem. Supporting Smith Pls.’ Renewed Mot. 3.

1 On January 24, 2020, the Smith Plaintiffs moved for a status conference to “communicate with the victims regarding any further information the Court may require” to resolve their pending motions. See Smith Pls.’ Mot. for Status Conference and Mem. in Support, ECF No. 54. Because the Court finds the written materials before it sufficient to resolve the pending motions, it denies this motion as moot. 2 For expositional clarity, the Court refers to these individuals as “directly injured.” 3 For expositional clarity, the Court refers to these individuals as “family members.”

2 The Smith Plaintiffs present several theories of relief. First, the directly-injured

individuals seek compensatory damages pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1605A(c)’s private cause of

action, see Intervenor Compl. ¶¶ 489–95, and, in addition, the personal representatives of those

who were fatally injured in one of the attacks seek economic damages for wrongful death, id. ¶¶

502–06. Second, all Smith Plaintiffs, including both the directly-injured plaintiffs and the family

member plaintiffs, seek compensatory damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress

(“IIED”), ¶¶ 496–501, and for solatium and/or loss of consortium due to the “extreme mental

anguish, emotional pain and suffering, and the loss of the society and companionship of the

victims,” ¶¶ 510–11. 4

While these claims were pending before the Court, given the number of individuals

involved and their location across multiple continents, see Mem. Supporting Smith Pls.’

Renewed Mot. 3, counsel for the intervenor plaintiffs moved for adoption of an administrative

plan wherein an appointed special master would issue a report and recommendation on

compensatory damages for the Smith Plaintiffs, see Smith Pls.’ Renewed Consent Mot., ECF No.

33. The Court granted this motion, see Order, ECF No. 36, and Special Master Griffin’s sealed

report was filed on August 9, 2019, see ECF No. 39. Thereafter, the Court directed the parties to

submit supplemental briefing to clarify the status of all Smith Plaintiffs and their legal

representatives as well as the methodology used by the Special Master to calculate damages. See

Order (Oct. 21, 2019), ECF No. 47. The Smith Plaintiffs and Special Master Griffin timely

provided the requested information. See Smith Plaintiffs’ Response to Court’s October 21, 2019

Order (“Smith Pls.’ Response”), ECF No. 48. In tandem with their supplementary briefing, the

4 Technically speaking, these plaintiffs seek damages for “loss of solatium,” Intervenor Compl. 136, but the Court follows the language of section 1605A and uses the term “solatium.” See 28 U.S.C. 1605A(c).

3 Smith Plaintiffs filed motions requesting the substitution of certain legal representatives, ECF

No. 50, and moving for the Court to adopt the Special Master’s report and recommendations, as

supplemented, ECF No. 53. Defendant Iran continues to decline to participate in this suit, and

the Smith Plaintiffs’ pending motions have ripened.

The Court previously entered default judgment concerning liability and damages for the

Barry Plaintiffs, see Barry v. Islamic Republic of Iran (“Barry I”), 410 F. Supp. 3d 101 (D.D.C.

2019) and will now consider the Smith Plaintiffs’ motion for default judgment concerning

liability, review the Special Master’s damages recommendations, and address the Smith

Plaintiffs’ motion to adopt these recommendations.

B. Factual History

The Smith Plaintiffs were injured in the 1983 terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy in East

Beirut, Lebanon and/or the attack on the U.S. Embassy Annex in East Beirut the following year. 5

5 As this Court explained in Barry I, 410 F. Supp. 3d 161, the Federal Rules of Evidence authorize a court to take judicial notice of “adjudicative facts” “not subject to reasonable dispute” that are “capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned,” Fed. R. Evid. 201(b), including “court records in related proceedings,” Rimkus v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 750 F. Supp. 2d 163, 171 (D.D.C. 2010) (citing 29 Am. Jur.

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