You are here

Arab Bank ‘confident’ US top court will dismiss collective suit

By JT - Apr 03,2017 - Last updated at Apr 03,2017

AMMAN — Arab Bank on Monday said that it was confident that the US Supreme Court will uphold previous rulings by lower courts rejecting lawsuits filed by non-US persons against the bank, accusing it of funding terror and demanding compensation.

In a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times, Arab Bank said it was “confident that the Supreme Court will confirm the decisions of the District Court, as well as the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, dismissing the claims brought against the bank by the non-US plaintiffs”.

The statement was issued as America’s top court agreed to look into the motion to hold the bank financially liable for attacks in Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territories, accusing it of being the "paymaster" to armed groups.

The claims were brought under a law called Alien Tort Statute (ATS) and the petition granted to plaintiffs addresses the May 2016 decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the District Court’s dismissal of plaintiffs’ claims, according to the statement.

Citing a precedent, Arab Bank said in the statement that “since the Supreme Court issued its decision in Kiobel [vs. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. in 2013], the federal appellate courts have uniformly dismissed extraterritorial ATS claims like these, involving foreign plaintiffs suing a foreign corporation for injuries sustained on foreign soil.  There is nothing new warranting a different outcome here”.

It added: “The bank did not cause plaintiffs’ injuries, and there is no basis under international law or the Supreme Court’s ATS decisions to reinstate these dismissed claims.”  

The statement highlighted in the case papers that the US government had described Arab Bank as “a constructive partner with the US in working to prevent terrorist financing”, adding that Arab Bank plays a vital role in the Middle East region, promoting economic development, growth and modern financial services. 

The appeal to the Supreme Court was filed by roughly 6,000 plaintiffs, who included relatives of non-US citizens killed and injured in armed attacks, including suicide bombings, Reuters reported.

The plaintiffs are hoping to overturn the previous court ruling that the bank could not be sued under the statute because it is a corporation, according to the news agency. 

The Alien Tort Statute, a law dating back to 1789, lets non-US citizens seek damages in US courts for human rights violations abroad. The lead plaintiff in the case is Joseph Jesner, whose British-citizen son was killed at age 19 in a 2002 suicide bombing of a bus in Tel Aviv, Reuters said. 

In the Kiobel vs. Royal Dutch Petroleum case, the New York-based Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that corporations cannot be sued under the ATS, ruling on corporate liability was correct. 

Based on the Kiobel ruling, the Seceond Circuit threw out the litigation against Arab Bank. 

 

The plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court, urging it to decide once and for all whether or not corporations are shielded over foreign conduct. 

up
45 users have voted.


Newsletter

Get top stories and blog posts emailed to you each day.

PDF