Strauss v. Crédit Lyonnais, S.A.

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• Decided: April 7, 2021
• Docket: 19-865(L)
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

19-865(L) Strauss v. Crédit Lyonnais, S.A.

1 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 2 FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

3 SUMMARY ORDER

4 5 RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. 6 CITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, 7 IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE 8 PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT'S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A 9 SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY 10 MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC 11 DATABASE (WITH THE NOTATION "SUMMARY ORDER"). A PARTY CITING 12 A SUMMARY ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT 13 REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL.

14 At a stated Term of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, held 15 at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of 16 New York on the 7th day of April, two thousand twenty-one.

17 Present: AMALYA L. KEARSE, 18 DENNIS JACOBS, 19 JOSÉ A. CABRANES,

20 Circuit Judges. 21 _________________________________________________________________________

22 MOSES STRAUSS, PHILIP STRAUSS, BLUMA STRAUSS, AHRON 23 STRAUSS, ROISIE ENGELMAN, JOSEPH STRAUSS, TZVI WEISS, LEIB 24 WEISS, MALKE WEISS, YITZCHAK WEISS, YERUCHAIM WEISS, ESTHER 25 DEUTSCH, MATANYA NATHANSEN, CHANA NATHANSEN, 26 MATANYA AND CHANA NATHANSEN for THE ESTATE OF TEHILLA 27 NATHANSEN, YEHUDIT NATHANSEN, S.N., a minor, HEZEKIEL 1 TOPOROWITCH, PEARL B. TOPOROWITCH, YEHUDA TOPOROWITCH, 2 DAVID TOPOROWITCH, SHAINA CHAVA NADEL, BLUMA ROM, 3 RIVKA POLLACK, EUGENE GOLDSTEIN, LORRAINE GOLDSTEIN, 4 BARBARA GOLDSTEIN INGARDIA, RICHARD GOLDSTEIN, MICHAEL 5 GOLDSTEIN, CHANA FREEDMAN, MICHAL HONICKMAN for THE 6 ESTATE OF HOWARD GOLDSTEIN, MICHAL HONICKMAN, DAVID 7 GOLDSTEIN, HARRY LEONARD BEER as Executor of THE ESTATE OF 8 ALAN BEER, HARRY LEONARD BEER, ANNA BEER, PHYLLIS MAISEL, 9 ESTELLE CARROLL, SARRI ANNE SINGER, JUDITH SINGER, ERIC M. 10 SINGER, ROBERT SINGER, JULIE AVERBACH for THE ESTATE OF 11 STEVEN AVERBACH, JULIE AVERBACH, TAMIR AVERBACH, DEVIR 12 AVERBACH, SEAN AVERBACH, A.A., a minor, MAIDA AVERBACH for 13 THE ESTATE OF DAVID AVERBACH, MAIDA AVERBACH, MICHAEL 14 AVERBACH, EILEEN SAPADIN, DANIEL ROZENSTEIN, JULIA 15 ROZENSTEIN SCHON, ALEXANDER ROZENSTEIN, ESTHER 16 ROZENSTEIN, JACOB STEINMETZ, DEBORAH STEINMETZ, JACOB 17 STEINMETZ AND DEBORAH STEINMETZ for THE ESTATE OF 18 AMICHAI STEINMETZ, NAVA STEINMETZ, ORIT MAYERSON, 19 NATANEL STEINMETZ, ROBERT L. COULTER, SR. for THE ESTATE OF 20 JANIS RUTH COULTER, DIANNE COULTER MILLER, ROBERT L. 21 COULTER, SR., ROBERT L. COULTER, JR., LARRY CARTER as the 22 Administrator of THE ESTATE OF DIANE LESLIE CARTER, LARRY 23 CARTER, SHAUN CHOFFEL, RICHARD BLUTSTEIN AND KATHERINE 24 BAKER for THE ESTATE OF BENJAMIN BLUTSTEIN, RICHARD 25 BLUTSTEIN, KATHERINE BAKER, REBEKAH BLUTSTEIN, NEVENKA 26 GRITZ for THE ESTATE OF DAVID GRITZ, NEVENKA GRITZ, NEVENKA 27 GRITZ for THE ESTATE OF NORMAN GRITZ, JACQUELINE CHAMBERS 28 as the Administrator of THE ESTATE OF ESTHER BABLAR, JACQUELINE 29 CHAMBERS, LEVANA COHEN, ELI COHEN, SARAH ELYAKIM, 30 YEHUDA AGABABA, MENACHE AGABABA, YEHEZKEL AGABABA, 31 GRETA GELER, ILANA EROPA DORFMAN, REFAEL KITSIS AND TOVA 32 GUTTMAN as the Administrators of THE ESTATE OF HANNAH ROGEN, 33 AKIVA ANACHOVICH, TEMIMA SPETNER, JASON KIRSCHENBAUM, 34 ISABELLE KIRSCHENBAUM, ISABELLE KIRSCHENBAUM for THE 35 ESTATE OF MARTIN KIRSCHENBAUM, JOSHUA KIRSCHENBAUM, 36 SHOSHANA BURGETT, DAVID KIRSCHENBAUM, DANIELLE 37 TEITELBAUM, NETANEL MILLER, CHAYA MILLER, ARIE MILLER,

-2- 1 ALTEA STEINHERZ, JONATHAN STEINHERZ, BARUCH YEHUDA ZIV 2 BRILL, CHAYA BEILI, BENNETT AND PAULA FINER as Legal Guardians 3 for CHANA NACHENBERG, DAVID NACHENBERG, S.N., a minor, 4 BENNETT FINER, PAULA FINER, ZEV FINER, SHOSHANA FINER 5 OHANA, MINA DORA GREEN, MINA DORA GREEN for THE ESTATE 6 OF HOWARD M. GREEN, STEVEN GREENBAUM for THE ESTATE OF 7 JUDITH GREENBAUM, STEVEN GREENBAUM, ALAN HAYMAN, 8 SHIRLEE HAYMAN, DAVID DANZIG, NEIL DANZIG for THE ESTATE 9 OF REBECCA DANZIG, NEIL DANZIG, HAYYIM DANZIG, SARAH 10 PEARLMAN, CLARA BEN-ZAKEN LASER, NETANEL HERSKOVITZ, 11 MARTIN HERSKOVITZ, PEARL HERSKOVITZ, YAAKOV HERSKOVITZ, 12 JOSHUA FAUDEM, ZOHAR FATER, BRUCE MAZER, ORLY ROM, 13 RICHARD COFFEY, GAL GANZMAN, JUDITH BUCHMAN-ZIV, ORA 14 COHEN, MIRAV COHEN, DANIEL COHEN, O.C., a minor, S.C., a minor, 15 E.N.C., a minor, FAIGA ZVIA LIEBERMAN, EINAT NOKED for THE 16 ESTATE OF EYAL NOKED, EINAT NOKED, A.N., a minor, AVISHAG 17 NOKED, BARUCH ZURI NOKED, BINYAMIN ELKANA NOKED, NETA 18 NECHAMA COHEN, T.N., a minor, KAREN GOLDBERG, CHANA WEISS, 19 ESTHER GOLDBERG, YITZHAK GOLDBERG, SHOSHANA GOLDBERG, 20 ELIEZER GOLDBERG, Y.M.G., a minor, T.Y.G., a minor, NILLY CHOMAN 21 and GILA ALUF

22 Plaintiffs-Appellants-Cross-Appellees, 23 24 - v. - Nos. 19-865(L) 25 19-1285(XAP)

26 CRÉDIT LYONNAIS, S.A.,

27 Defendant-Appellee-Cross-Appellant.

28 _________________________________________________________________________

29 ESTATE OF BERNICE WOLF, ARI HOROVITZ, BATSHEVA HOROVITZ 30 SADAN, DAVID HOROVITZ, ESTATE OF DEBRA RUTH HOROVITZ, 31 ESTATE OF ELNATAN HOROVITZ, ESTATE OF LEAH HOROVITZ, 32 ESTATE OF MOSHE HOROVITZ, NECHAMA HOROVITZ, SHULAMITE

-3- 1 HOROVITZ, TOVA HOROVITZ NAIMAN, TVI HOROVITZ, URI 2 HOROVITZ, ESTATE OF BRYAN WOLF, STANLEY WOLF, AVERHAM 3 GROSSMAN, DEVORAH CHECHANOW LEIFER, JOSEPH LEIFER, 4 BRACHA MILSTEIN, SHIFRA MILLER, CHAYA ROSENBERG, 5 ABRAHAM WAXLER, ARTHUR WAXLER, BARUCH WAXLER, CHANA 6 WAXLER, DINA WAXLER, EZEKIEL WAXLER, GEDALIA WAXLER, 7 HAGGI WAXLER, NACHUM WAXLER, OBADIAH WAXLER, YAAKOV 8 WAXLER, YOEL WAXLER, ZACHARIA WAXLER, NETHANIEL BLUTH, 9 MOSHE NAIMI, FAYE CHANA BENJAMINSON, THE ESTATE OF 10 MOSHE GOTTLIEB, SEYMOUR GOTTLIEB, SHEILA GOTTLIEB, PHILIP 11 LITLE, ESTATE OF ABIGAIL LITLE, ELISHUA LITLE, HANNAH LITLE, 12 HEIDI LITLE, JOSIAH LITLE, NOAH LITLE, FRAN STRAUSS BAXTER, 13 WILLIAM J. BAXTER, ARIELA FREIRMARK, MENACHEM FREIRMARK, 14 HADASSAH FREIRMARK, PHYLLIS PAM, RIVKA REENA PAM, 15 SHOSHANA TITA, EZRA TITA, EPHRAIM TITA, EPHRIAM TITA for THE 16 ESTATE OF BERTIN TITA, RACHEL POTOLSKI, OVADIA 17 TOPPOROWITCH, YISRAEL TOPPOROWITCH, YITZCHAK 18 TOPPOROWITCH, MIRIAM EHRENFELD, ROSE JOSEPH, LEIBEL 19 REINITZ, MALVIA REINITZ, MARGALI REINITZ, MENDY REINITZ, 20 MIRIAM REINITZ, RIVKA REINITZ, SAMUEL REINITZ, SHMUEL 21 REINITZ, YAKOV REINITZ, THE ESTATE OF YISSOCHER DOV REINITZ, 22 YITZCHOK REINITZ, RAIZEL SHIMON, LEAH TAUBER, HELEN 23 WEIDER, AVROHOM D. RICHTER, BREINA RICHTER, MIRIAM LEAH 24 RICHTER, MOSHE RICHTER, NECHAMA RICHTER, SARA MALKA 25 RICHTER, SHLOMO CHAIM RICHTER, TRANNE RICHTER, YAKOV 26 YOSEF RICHTER, THE ESTATE OF MORDECHAI REINITZ, YECHIEL 27 RICHTER, YEHUDIS RICHTER, YISROEL RICHTER, YITZCHOK 28 RICHTER, PERL BRAILOFSKY, MALKY BREUER, ESTER BUXBAUM, 29 GITTEL COHEN, CHAYA FREISEL, RACHEL ROSNER, ELIZABETH 30 SCHWARTZ, JACOB SCHWARTZ, MAX SCHWARTZ, MICHAEL 31 SCHWARTZ, PHILLIP SCHWARTZ, ABRAHAM ZARKOWSKY, ARON 32 ZARKOWSKY, BSHAVA ZARKOWSKY RICHTER, ESTATE OF ELI 33 ZARKOWSKY, EZRIEL ZARKOWSKY, GITTEL ZARKOWSKY, MENDEL 34 ZARKOWSKY, ESTATE OF GOLDIE ZARKOWSKY, JOSEPH 35 ZARKOWSKY, MIRIAM ZARKOWSKY, SHRAGE ZARKOWSKY, TRANY 36 ZARKOWSKY, YEHUDA ZARKOWSKY, THE ESTATE OF DAVID 37 APPLEBAUM, DEBRA APPLEBAUM, THE ESTATE OF JACQUELINE

-4- 1 APPLEBAUM, NATAN APPLEBAUM, THE ESTATE OF NAAVA 2 APPLEBAUM, SHIRA APPLEBAUM, YITZCHAK APPLEBAUM, SHAYNA 3 APPLEBAUM, TOVI BELLE APPLEBAUM, GEELA APPLEBAUM 4 GORDON, CHAYA TZIPORAH COHEN, ERIK SCHECTER, SHLOMO 5 TRATNER, THE ESTATE OF TIFERET TRATNER,

6 Plaintiffs-Appellants-Cross-Appellees, 7 8 - v. -

9 CRÉDIT LYONNAIS, S.A.,

10 Defendant-Appellee-Cross-Appellant.* 11 ________________________________________________________________________

12 For Strauss Appellants: PETER RAVEN-HANSEN, Hackensack, New 13 Jersey (Gary M. Osen, Ari Ungar, Michael Radine, 14 Aaron Schlanger, Osen, Hackensack, New Jersey; 15 Steven M. Steingard, Stephen H. Schwartz, Kohn, 16 Swift & Graf, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Shawn 17 P. Naunton, Zuckerman Spaeder, New York, New 18 York; C. Tab Turner, Turner & Associates, North 19 Little Rock, Arkansas, on the brief).

20 For Wolf Appellants: FLEISCHMAN BONNER & ROCCO, New York, 21 New York (James P. Bonner, Patrick L. Rocco, 22 Susan M. Davies, New York, New York, of 23 counsel; Richard D. Heideman, Noel J. Nudelman, 24 Tracy R. Kalik, Heideman Nudelman & Kalik, 25 Washington, D.C., of counsel).

* The Clerk of the Court is directed to amend the official caption to conform with the above captions of these cases, which were consolidated for adjudication in the district court.

-5- 1 For Appellee: JONATHAN I. BLACKMAN, New York, New 2 York (Mark E. McDonald, Katherine R. Lynch, 3 Rathna Ramamurthi, New York, New York, 4 Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, on the brief).

5 For Amici Curiae, in 6 support of Appellee: MAYER BROWN, Washington D.C. (Andrew J. 7 Pincus, Alex C. Lakatos, Marc R. Cohen, of 8 counsel), for Institute of International Bankers, 9 European Banking Federation, and French Banking 10 Federation.

11 Appeal and cross-appeal from a March 31, 2019 judgment of the 12 United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

13 14 This cause came on to be heard on the record from the United States 15 District Court for the Eastern District of New York and was argued by counsel.

16 ON CONSIDERATION WHEREOF, it is now hereby ordered, 17 adjudged, and decreed that the judgment of said District Court be and it hereby is 18 affirmed; the cross-appeal is dismissed as moot.

19 Plaintiffs Moses Strauss, et al., and Estate of Bernice Wolf, et al., who 20 were injured, or represent persons who were injured, in terrorist attacks in Israel 21 and Palestine in 2001-2004, allegedly committed by Hamas, jointly appeal from a 22 March 31, 2019 judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District 23 of New York in these consolidated actions, Dora L. Irizarry, then-Chief Judge, (A) 24 dismissing the complaints seeking damages against defendant Crédit Lyonnais, 25 S.A. ("CL"), under the Antiterrorism Act of 1990 ("ATA"), see 18 U.S.C. §§ 2333(a), 26 2331(1), and 2339B, for providing banking services to a charitable organization that 27 allegedly had ties to Hamas; and (B) denying leave to amend the complaints to 28 allege aiding-and-abetting claims against CL under the Justice Against Sponsors

-6- 1 of Terrorism Act ("JASTA"), see id. § 2333(d). The district court granted CL's motion 2 for summary judgment dismissing the complaints, relying principally on this 3 Court's decision in Linde v. Arab Bank, PLC, 882 F.3d 314 (2d Cir. 2018), and 4 concluding that plaintiffs failed to adduce evidence sufficient to permit an 5 inference that CL had committed an act involving violence, danger to human life, 6 or an appearance of intent to intimidate or coerce a population or a government-- 7 elements of an international terrorism claim under the ATA. The court also denied 8 plaintiffs' motion for leave to file an amended complaint to allege that CL is liable 9 for the attacks as an aider and abetter, concluding that, given the record on the 10 summary judgment motion, such an amendment would be futile. See Strauss v. 11 Crédit Lyonnais, S.A., 379 F.Supp.3d 148 (E.D.N.Y. 2019).

12 On appeal, plaintiffs argue principally that the district court erred by 13 misapplying Linde and concluding that plaintiffs' evidence of CL's violation of 14 18 U.S.C. § 2339B was insufficient to permit inferences either that CL itself engaged 15 in terrorist activity or that it had the requisite state of mind to make it liable for 16 aiding and abetting that activity. In its cross-appeal, CL argues that if we do not 17 affirm the judgment of the district court, we should reverse that court's denial of 18 CL's motion to dismiss the actions for lack of personal jurisdiction; however, CL 19 urges that "[g]iven the number of years during which these cases have already been 20 pending, this Court can and should 'assume jurisdiction' and affirm on the 21 . . . merits . . . as a means of preventing waste of judicial resources." (CL brief on 22 appeal at 61-62 (other internal quotation marks omitted).)

23 This appeal was argued in tandem with the appeal in Weiss v. National 24 Westminster Bank PLC, Nos. 19-863, -1159, which we have decided today in a 25 published opinion, see --- F.3d --- (2d Cir. 2021) ("Weiss"). Although CL is not the 26 defendant against which the Weiss actions were brought, both sets of actions were 27 commenced in the mid-2000's asserting ATA claims premised on international 28 terrorist attacks attributed to Hamas; the actions proceeded largely along parallel 29 lines (sometimes with coordinated pretrial discovery proceedings), involved the 30 same legal issues, and were dismissed by the same district judge in opinions filed 31 on the same day, with the opinion in the present case frequently citing past 32 decisions and reasoning in the Weiss actions.

-7- 1 The issues in these two sets of actions were the same; the issues in both 2 appeals are the same; the arguments made by both sets of appellants are the same; 3 and the two appellees pursue virtually identical conditional cross-appeals. We 4 conclude, for the reasons discussed in Weiss, that the district court did not err in 5 granting summary judgment dismissing the Strauss and Wolf plaintiffs' complaints 6 under the ATA or in denying their request for leave to amend in order to bring 7 claims under JASTA. We accordingly affirm the judgment of the district court; 8 CL's cross-appeal is thus moot.

9 We have considered all of plaintiffs' arguments on appeal and have 10 found them to be without merit. The judgment of the district court is affirmed; the 11 cross-appeal is dismissed.

12 FOR THE COURT: 13 CATHERINE O'HAGAN WOLFE, Clerk of Court 14

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