The use of U.S. funds to pay portions of some judgments has drawn criticism. Congress passed a rider to the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2008 ( H.R. 1585 ), to provide a cause of action against terrorist States and to facilitate enforcement of judgments, and to permit some plaintiffs to refile claims that were unsuccessful under the previous law. This report provides background on the international law doctrine of foreign State immunity and the FSIA; summarizes the 1996 amendments creating an exception to state immunity under the FSIA for suits against terrorist States; details the subsequent cases and the legislative initiatives to assist claimants in efforts to collect on their judgments; sets forth the legal and policy arguments that were made for and against those efforts; summarizes the decision in Roeder v. Islamic Republic of Iran and efforts to help the plaintiffs and override the Algiers Accords; describes the Administration's actions vesting title to Iraq's frozen assets in the United States and making them unavailable to former POWs in Acree v. Republic of Iraq and other plaintiffs who have won judgments against Iraq; discusses an effort by Iran to void a judgment against it ( Ministry of Defense v. Elahi ); notes the laws in certain terrorist States that allow suits against the U.S. for similar acts; and concludes that the issue of providing fair compensation to victims of terrorism is not one that will likely dissipate any time soon. 106-386 ), the amount of compensation that has been paid in each case, and the source of the compensation. Appendix B lists the amount of the assets of each terrorist State blocked by the United States as of the end of 2006, as compared to the current sum of judgments that remain to be satisfied. The report will be updated as events warrant. The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) amended the FSIA to provide that a foreign State is not immune from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts in cases in which
money damages are sought against a foreign state for personal injury or death that was caused by an act of torture, extrajudicial killing, aircraft sabotage, hostage taking, or the provision of material support or resources ... for such an act if such act or provision of material support is engaged in by an official, employee, or agent of such foreign state while acting within the scope of his or her office, employment, or agency....
As predicates for such suits, the AEDPA amendment required that the foreign State be designated as a State sponsor of terrorism by the State Department at the time the act occurred or later so designated as a consequence of the act in question, that either the claimant or the victim of the act of terrorism be a U.S. national, and that the defendant State be given a prior opportunity to arbitrate the claim if the act on which the claim is based occurred in the territory of the defendant State. 106th Congress: Enactment of § 2002 of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (VTVPA)

President Clinton's exercise of the waiver authority conferred by section 117 of the FY1999 Treasury Department appropriations act blocked those with default judgments against Cuba and Iran from attaching the diplomatic property and frozen assets of those States to satisfy the judgments. While still allowing the President to block the attachment of embassies and necessary operating assets, H.R. (3) Attachment of frozen assets authorized (P.L. 107-297)

On November 26, 2002, President Bush signed the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) into law. 3369 and H.R. In creating a federal cause of action against terrorist States ( P.L. The Court of Appeals for the D.C. The Supreme Court has asked the Solicitor General for his views on whether to grant the petition. In response, Congress passed H.R. MOD challenged the Ninth Circuit's assumption that MOD is an "agency or instrumentality" of Iran rather than an integral part of the Iranian government without separate juridical status. 4986 , which includes authority for the President to waive the FSIA provision with respect to Iraq. 110-181 ). Property Subject to Execution

Subsection (b)(3) of section 1083, P.L. Senator Biden introduced a separate bill negotiated by the Administration, S. 3370 , to exempt Libya from terror-related lawsuits if it agrees to compensate certain U.S. victims under a claims settlement agreement with the United States. H.R. Most of the Cuban assets made available by § 2002 to satisfy judgments have also been liquidated to pay to judgment creditors. An appellate court decision in 2004 holding that no cause of action exists under the FSIA to sue terrorist States themselves, as opposed to their employees, officials, and agents, led courts to apply domestic state tort law to lawsuits against terrorist States based on the domicile of the victim, resulting in some disparity of relief available to victims. Appendix A. Assets of Terrorist States
In 1996 Congress amended the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) to allow U.S. victims of terrorism to sue designated State sponsors of terrorism for their terrorist acts. The courts have handed down large judgments against the terrorist State defendants, generally in default, and successive Administrations have intervened to block the judicial attachment of frozen assets to satisfy judgments. After a court ruled that Congress never created a cause of action against terrorist States themselves, but only against their officials, employees, and agents, plaintiffs have based claims on state law. The limited availability of defendant States' assets for satisfaction of judgments has made collection difficult. Congress passed a rider to the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2008 (H.R. 4986), to provide a federal cause of action against terrorist States and to facilitate enforcement of judgments, authorizing the President to waive the provision with respect to Iraq. Congress subsequently passed S. 3370 to exempt Libya from the FSIA provisions if it agrees to compensate victims with pending lawsuits.
Section 1083 of P.L. 110-181 is the latest in a series of actions Congress has taken over the last decade to assist plaintiffs in lawsuits against terrorist States. The 107th Congress enacted a measure in the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 ("TRIA") (P.L. 107-297) to allow the attachment of blocked assets of terrorist States to pay compensatory damages to victims. The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 ("VTVPA") (P.L. 106-386) liquidated some frozen assets to pay claims and provided some U.S. funds to compensate those holding judgments against Iran at the time. Section 1083 seeks to make more assets available to execute terrorism judgments. It permits the attachment of assets belonging to separate agencies and instrumentalities of defendant States, permits plaintiffs to file notices of lis pendens with respect to property owned by defendant States or entities they control, and permits some plaintiffs to refile claims.
The Supreme Court has not directly addressed the FSIA terrorism exception, but in 2006 it remanded a decision based on the lower court's assumption that Iran's Ministry of Defense (MOD) is an "agency or instrumentality" of Iran rather than part of the government itself, and will decide in its upcoming term whether certain Iranian assets are available under the TRIA to judgment holders. The Court may also be asked to determine the effect of the waiver of § 1083 on pending cases against Iraq, which the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has permitted to go forward.
This report provides background on the doctrine of State immunity and the FSIA; details the evolution of the terrorist State exception and some of the resulting judicial decisions; describes legislative efforts to help claimants satisfy their judgments; summarizes the hostages' suit against Iran and Congress's efforts to intervene; summarizes the status of lawsuits against Iraq and Libya; and provides an overview of proposed legislation (S. 3370, H.R. 3346, S. 1944, H.R. 394, H.R. 5167, and H.R. 2764). Appendix A provides a list of cases, including those covered by TRIA § 2002 and the amount of compensation paid. Appendix B lists the assets of each terrorist State currently blocked by the United States and the total amount owed by each for terrorism judgments. The report will be updated as events warrant.