The family of a Weston teen killed in a 2006 suicide bombing in Israel has won a $332 million court judgment against the governments of Syria and Iran for sponsoring the terrorist group responsible for the attack.
On Monday, a federal judge in Washington ordered the judgment in a lawsuit brought by the family of Daniel Wultz, a 16-year-old who was among 11 people killed by a suicide bomber who attacked a Tel Aviv restaurant on April 17, 2006. Daniel, a student at David Posnack Hebrew Day School in Plantation, was visiting Tel Aviv with his father, Yekutiel ?Tuly? Wultz, who also was injured in the blast.
?We don?t look for any revenge,? Tuly Wultz said Tuesday. ?Our purpose in our fight is to fight terrorism. We don?t want any more Daniels to die.?
Investigators tied the bombing to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group based in Syria?s capital, Damascus, and which claimed responsibility for the attack. Lawyers for the Wultz family presented evidence that the group has received financing and other support from both the Iranian and Syrian governments over the years ? making them liable for Daniel?s death.
The lawsuit was brought under a special provision of federal law that allows U.S. citizens to bring claims against foreign governments for terrorist acts. Some $300 million of the judgment was in punitive damages designed to punish Iran and Syria for their roles in the bombing.
?When a state chooses to use terror as a policy tool ? as Iran and Syria continue to do ? that state forfeits its sovereign immunity and deserves unadorned condemnation,? U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth wrote in his order on Monday ? six years to the day after Daniel Wultz died from his injuries after 27 days in the hospital. ?Barbaric acts like the April 17, 2006, terrorist bombing have no place in civilized society.?
In court papers, a lawyer for the Syrian government ? former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark ? called the lawsuit ?baseless? and said the suit violated the United Nations charter.
The Wultz family has already established a nonprofit foundation in Daniel?s name, aimed at combating terrorism and promoting tolerance. But collecting the judgment could prove difficult.
Though federal law allows plaintiffs in some cases to collect from any assets frozen in the United States belonging to nations that sponsor terrorism, the plaintiffs typically run into roadblocks in collecting, according to a 2005 congressional report. Both Iran and Syria have been hit with other large judgments in U.S. courts in recent years.
?We are very hopeful that we will be able to find assets? of Iran and Syria to satisfy the judgment, said Robert Tolchin, an attorney for the Wultz family.
The family also has a parallel lawsuit still pending against the Bank of China, accused of being the conduit for the money used to finance the bombing. The bank has denied wrongdoing.
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