Bernhardt v. Islamic Republic of Iran

1

DANA MARIE BERNHARDT et al., Plaintiffs, v. ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN, Defendant.

Civil Action No. 18-2739 (TJK)

United States District Court, District of Columbia

March 22, 2023

MEMORANDUM OPINION

TIMOTHY J. KELLY UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Almost 15 years ago, a Jordanian doctor with ties to al-Qaeda detonated his suicide vest at Camp Chapman, a covert American military installation in Afghanistan. The deadliest attack on the Central Intelligence Agency in recent history took the lives of nine persons at the base, including American contractors Jeremy Wise and Dane Paresi. Plaintiffs-the two contractors' estates and family members-allege that the Islamic Republic of Iran provided al-Qaeda with material support for the attack. Thus, they allege, Iran should be held liable for it under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. For the reasons explained below, the Court agrees, and will grant their pending Motion for Default Judgment, enter judgment against Iran, and award damages of $268,553,684.

I. Background

A. Factual Background

On December 30, 2009, Humam Khalil al-Balawi, a Jordanian doctor affiliated with al-Qaeda, detonated a vest containing over thirty pounds of C-4 explosives and shrapnel shortly after arriving at Forward Operating Base Chapman (“Camp Chapman”).^[1] ECF No. 48 at 1; ECF No. 481 at 39, 41; ECF No. 48-2 at 1-2.^[2] Camp Chapman was a clandestine Central Intelligence Agency (“CIA”) installation in Khost, Afghanistan. ECF No. 48 at 1; ECF No. 48-1 at 40. The American intelligence community had believed al-Balawi was a double agent embedded within al-Qaeda's top leadership in northwest Pakistan who could help the United States and Jordan infiltrate al-Qaeda. ECF No. 48-1 at 39-40. Al-Balawi had represented to CIA operatives that he had access al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Id. at 40. On that understanding, CIA officials arranged for a meeting with al-Balawi at Camp Chapman. Id. at 39-41.

But tragically, al-Balawi was a triple agent who had conspired with al-Qaeda to plan a suicide attack. ECF No. 48-1 at 40-41. After he arrived at Camp Chapman, Wise and Paresi approached him and noticed one of his hands was concealed. Id. at 41. They ordered him to show his hands, but al-Balawi detonated his vest. Id.; see also ECF No. 48 at 10, 12 (citing Joby Warrick, The Triple Agent: The Al-Qaeda Mole Who Infiltrated the CIA 8 (2012)). Along with al-Balawi's own life, the explosion took nine others, including Paresi and Wise, and wounded several more. ECF No. 48-1 at 41. The attack was the “single deadliest episode” for the CIA since September 11, 2001. ECF No. 48 at 2 (quoting Alissa J. Rubin & Mark Mazzetti, Suicide Bomber Killed C.I.A. Operatives, N.Y. Times (Dec. 30, 2009), https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/world/asia/31khost.html).

According to Plaintiffs, the suicide bombing at Camp Chapman was a part of a broader conspiracy between al-Qaeda, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (“TTP”), and Iran to attack the United States and its allies.^[3] See ECF No. 48 at 1-2, 17-21. Iran has supported al-Qaeda since the early 1990s. ECF No. 48-1 at 21-31. According to the Treasury Department, Iran has historically “serve[d] as the core pipeline through which [al Qaeda] move[d] money, facilitators, and operatives from across the Middle East to South Asia.” ECF No. 48 at 2 & n.4 (alterations in original) (quoting U.S. Dep't of Treasury, Treasury Targets Key al-Qa'ida Funding and Support Network Using Iran as a Critical Transit Point (July 28, 2011), https://home.treasury.gov/ news/press-releases/tg1261); ECF No. 48-1 at 27-29, 50. In addition, the Treasury Department has described Iran as a “critical transit point for funding to support [al-Qaeda's] activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan.” ECF No. 48 at 16 & n.22 (citation omitted); see also ECF No. 48-1 at 50 & n.221. Iran's support extended to the TTP, too. According to the State Department, the TTP has a “symbiotic relationship” with al-Qaeda, providing al-Qaeda “safe haven” in exchange for “ideological guidance.” ECF No. 48-1 at 17, 33. Iran indirectly supported the TTP by providing sanctuary and cross-border mobility to Atiyah Abd al-Rahman-an al-Qaeda leader with close ties to Osama bin-Laden-who “played a central role in [al-Qaeda and the TTP's] alliance.” Id. at 28, 35, 48-49.

These channels of support, according to Plaintiffs' expert, were crucial ingredients of the Camp Chapman attack, because the success of the mission relied on extensive financial, material, and logistical assistance from Iran. ECF No. 48-1 at 21-31, 47-50; ECF No. 48 at 2. Specifically, according to Plaintiffs' expert, before the Camp Chapman bombing, Iran provided al-Qaeda with the ability to move funds internationally; the opportunity to travel without hindrance across its borders into Afghanistan and Pakistan; and the funding necessary to establish and maintain the communications and training networks that facilitated the planning and execution of the attack. See ECF No. 48-1 at 21, 24, 27-29, 47-50; ECF No. 48 at 2, 16-17. The sanctuary and mobility Iran gave al-Rahman proved particularly important. Al-Rahman helped forge the alliance between al-Qaeda and the TTP. ECF No. 48-1 at 35-37, 49-50. Al-Balawi's “first point of contact with Islamist militant groups was with the TTP.” Id. at 50. And as described in more detail below, al-Rahman himself helped “engineer[]” the attack. Id. at 48-49. Thus, Plaintiffs' expert concluded that Iran's aid to al-Qaeda and others bore a “definite connection to the attack on Camp Chapman.” See id. at 51.

Because Wise and Paresi were killed in the attack, they could not fulfill their professional aspirations after leaving their positions as CIA contractors. ECF No. 48-1 at 41; ECF No. 48-2 at 1-2. Upon completion of his 90-day security contract with the CIA, Wise had intended to return to the United States to continue medical school, which he had put on pause so that he could enlist in the Navy following September 11. See ECF No. 48 at 29; see also ECF No. 48-3 at 2. Likewise, Paresi had planned to pursue employment at home after concluding his final stint as a CIA contractor. See ECF No. 48 at 29-30; see also ECF No. 48-4 at 2.

Wise's and Paresi's families have and will continue to suffer profoundly as a result of their deaths. Wise's sudden passing has taken an immense physical, mental, and emotional toll on his close family members. His widow, Dana Bernhardt, and his stepson, Ethan Prusinski, have been left without the emotional and financial support for which they once depended on Wise.

ECF No. 48-5 ¶¶ 9-10. Bernhardt recounts losing her “best friend” and the “one constant” in her life. Id. ¶ 4. She has sought counseling and treatment for depression, elevated stress, and anxiety. Id. ¶¶ 26-27. And she continues to grieve his loss and suffers from panic attacks, regular night terrors, and symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”). Id. ¶¶ 27-28. Prusinski had an “inseparable” father-son bond with Wise. Id. ¶ 41. After the loss of his only father figure at age six, he struggled to cope with his grief, struggled to trust others, and was “in and out of trouble in school.” Id. ¶¶ 49-50. As a result, he attended counseling throughout his childhood. Id. ¶ 49. Later as a young adult, he harbored “frustrations with the purpose of his life,” which he attributes to Wise's death. Id. ¶ 52.

Wise's parents and siblings have suffered, too. Wise's father's health “rapidly declined” following the attack, leading to such frequent crying that he had broken blood vessels under his eyes. ECF No. 48-6 ¶¶ 23-24. He passed away from Parkinson's disease in 2016. Id. ¶ 27. Wise's mother Mary Lee Wise also experienced a sharp decline in health after her son's death. Id. ¶ 35. She became violently ill with migraines, had vomiting episodes, refused to leave her bed for days, and many years later suffered a life-threatening stroke and hemorrhage that rendered her bedridden, mentally scattered, and partially immobilized. Id. ¶¶ 25-32. Those close to Wise's mother “know the grief claimed” her health. Id. ¶ 35. Finally, Wise's sister Mary Heather Wise suffered from chronic insomnia and an accelerated heart rate because of her brother's death. Id. ¶¶ 14-16. As the months went on, her grief strained her marriage, and she struggled to care for her young daughter who is on the autism spectrum. Id. ¶ 16. At one point, Mary Heather Wise became so physically weak that she went into stage-four adrenal exhaustion. Id. ¶¶ 14-19. Later, she was diagnosed with PTSD. Id. ¶ 20. Her own grief was exacerbated by having to watch and support her parents as they mourned the loss of their son. Id. ¶¶ 22, 24, 28, 33. She now relies on anti-anxiety and sleeping medication. Id. ¶ 15.

Paresi's family members have also experienced severe physical and emotional pain in the wake of the attack. Paresi's widow Mindylou Paresi, suffers from intense bouts of grief having lost her “husband, best friend, confidant, hero, protector, and soul mate,” and she has attended therapy to learn how to better cope with his passing. ECF No. 48-7 ¶¶ 4, 14. Since her husband's death, she has struggled to regain her sense of normalcy and goes through life “feeling empty,” “without direction,” and “in freefall.” Id. ¶¶ 10-12. Paresi's death also brought “trauma” to his stepdaughter, Alexandra VandenBroek, and daughter, Elizabeth Santina Paresi, who have been plagued by mental distress over the past decade. ECF No. 48-8 ¶¶ 13-14, 24; ECF No. 48-9 ¶¶ 1123. VandenBroek, for her part, suffered an indescribable emotional toll processing the loss of her “heart and cornerstone of [her] family” and “superhero.” ECF No. 48-8 ¶¶ 10-11. She had to leave her job to help support her incomplete family unit,...