Stearns v. Islamic Republic of Iran

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SHIRLEY STEARNS, et al., Plaintiffs, v. THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN, Defendant.

No. 17-CV-131 (RCL)

United States District Court, District of Columbia

April 30, 2024

MEMORANDUM OPINIONs

Royce C. Lamberth United States District Judge

Before the Court is the Special Master's fifth report and recommendations regarding damages in this case. ECF No. 89. For the reasons stated below, the Court adopts each of the damages recommendations provided by the Special Master. Additionally, the Court awards punitive damages in favor of plaintiffs.

I. BACKGROUND

This civil action arises from a series of attacks involving explosively formed penetrators (“EFPs”), a type of improvised explosive device (“IED”), that insurgents in Iraq used to injure or kill American servicemembers and a military contractor between 2004 and 2011.

Filed on January 19, 2017, the Complaint was brought under 28 U.S.C. § 1605A by the surviving victims, the estates of the deceased victims, and their close family members seeking compensatory and punitive damages. ECF No. 1. Plaintiffs filed an Amended Complaint on March 22, 2018. ECF No. 14. Plaintiffs served defendant Islamic Republic of Iran (“Iran”) through diplomatic channels on August 12, 2018. ECF No. 21. Following Iran s failure to respond, and upon affidavit by plaintiffs' counsel, the Clerk of Court entered default on October 15,2018. ECF No 23.

On December 30, 2021, plaintiffs filed a memorandum of proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law (“PFFCL”) in support of their motion for default judgment as to Iran's liability for plaintiffs' injuries stemming from 58 of the attacks alleged in their Amended Complaint. PFFCL in Supp. of Mot. for Default J., ECF No. 35 at 2. Specifically, they asked this Court to: (1) “Court find Iran liable for the attacks at issue in this PFFCL”; (2) “based upon the evidence they presented in [Karcher v. Islamic Republic of Iran, No. 16-CV-232 (CKK) (D.D.C.)]” “as well as additional evidence that” plaintiffs submitted here. Id.

On October 3, 2022, the Court issued a Memorandum Opinion, ECF No. 47, holding that Iran materially supported the attacks, that Iran proximately caused plaintiffs' injuries through its material support, and that Iran did so with an intent to cause severe emotional distress. See also Stearns v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 633 F.Supp.3d 284 (D.D.C. 2022). Accordingly, the Court issued a Finding of Liability as to injuries sustained by 229 plaintiffs. ECF No. 48. Plaintiffs moved to appoint a special master. ECF No. 50. This Court granted plaintiffs' motion on February 21, 2023, appointing Stephen A. Salzburg to serve as Special Master. ECF No. 52. Plaintiffs then moved for orders to seal the Special Master's reports and to allow the Special Master to submit periodic reports. ECF Nos. 54 & 55. The Court granted plaintiffs'motions. ECF No. 57 & 58.

On December 11, 2023, the Special Master filed his fifth report and recommendations with the Court regarding solatium and economic damages alleged by 18 plaintiffs. ECF No 89. Plaintiffs submitted their proposed redactions to the Special Master's report. ECF No. 90 (“5th Special Master Rep.”). The parties have not filed any objections to the reports and recommendations within the statutorily allotted time. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 53(f)(2) (allowing a party to “file objections to-or a motion to adopt or modify-the master's order, report, or recommendations no later than 21 days after a copy is served”).

Having established liability, this Court examines the Special Master's recommended damages awards for the plaintiffs identified in his fifth report.

II. DISCUSSION

Damages available under the FSIA “include economic damages, solatium, pain and suffering, and punitive damages.” 28U.S.C. § 1605A(c). To demonstrate entitlement to damages, “a default winner must prove damages ‘in the same manner and to the same extent' as any other default winner.” Hill v. Republic of Iraq, 328 F.3d 680, 683-84 (D.C. Cir. 2003) (quoting la meda v. Sec'y of Health, Educ. & Welfare, 622 F.2d 1044, 1048 (1st Cir. 1980)). See also H.R. REP. No. 94-1487, at 26 (1976) (stating that 28 U.S.C. § 1608(e) establishes “the same requirement applicable to default judgments against the U.S. Government under rule 55(e), F[ed]. R. Civ. P.”). For future damages, a plaintiff must demonstrate entitlement to a “reasonable certainty or a preponderance of the evidence,” and prove damages by a “reasonable estimate.” Hill, 328 F.3d at 684. For past losses, a plaintiff must “prove the fact of injury with reasonable certainty” yet only “reasonably prove” the amount of damages. Id. at 684 (quoting Samaritan Inns, Inc. v. District of Columbia, 114 F.3d 1227, 1235 (D.C. Cir. 1997)).

Plaintiffs have amply demonstrated that Iran's commission of acts of completed extrajudicial killings and provision of material support and resources for such killings was reasonably certain to-and, indeed, was intended to-injure plaintiffs. See Peterson v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 515 F.Supp.2d 25, 37 (D.D.C. 2007).

The Court has received and reviewed the recommendations of the Special Master and ADOPTS, without discussion, all facts found and recommendations made that conform to the well-established solatium-damages framework articulated below. See id. at 51-53; Valore v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 700 F.Supp.2d 52, 83-87 (D.D.C. 2010). The Court will, however, discuss the instances where the Special Master has recommended that economic damages be granted. The Court will also discuss why an award of punitive damages is appropriate.

A. Solatium Damages

Solatium damages are designed “to compensate persons for mental anguish, bereavement and grief that those with a close personal relationship to a decedent experience as well as the harm caused by the loss of the decedent's society and comfort.” Roth v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 78 F.Supp.3d 379, 402-03 (D.D.C. 2015) (quoting Oveissi v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 768 F.Supp.2d 16, 25 (D.D.C. 2011)) (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted). . .

In Estate of Heiser v. Islamic Republic of Iran, this Court surveyed damages awarded to the family members of the deceased terrorism victims and determined that, based on averages, that “[s]pouses typically receive greater damage awards than parents [or children], who, in turn, typically receive greater awards than siblings.” 466 F.Supp.2d 229, 269 (D.D.C. 2006). This Court then established a framework whereby spouses of deceased victims receive approximately $8 million, parents receive $5 million, and siblings receive $2.5 million. Id. See also Valore, 700 F.Supp.2d at 85 (observing that courts have “adopted the framework set forth in Heiser as ‘an appropriate measure of damages for the family members of victims'”) (quoting Peterson, 515 F.Supp.2d at 51). Step-family members may similarly receive solatium damages awards consistent with the Heiser framework when they “were members of the victim's household” such that they were “viewed as the functional equivalents of family members.” See Bettis v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 315 F.3d 325, 337 (D.C. Cir. 2003).

When applying this framework, this Court is mindful that “[t]hese numbers ... are not set in stone,” Murphy v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 740 F.Supp.2d 51, 79 (D.D.C. 2010), and that upward deviations may be warranted in the face of “evidence establishing an especially close relationship between the plaintiff and decedent, particularly in comparison to the normal interactions to be expected given the familial relationship” or with “medical proof of severe pain, grief or suffering on behalf of the claimant” or if the “circumstances surrounding the terrorist attack [rendered] the suffering particularly more acute or agonizing.” Oveissi, 768 F.Supp.2d at 26-27. “Decisions to deviate from the starting points provided by the Heiser framework are committed to the discretion of the particular court in each case[.]” Id. at 26. Any departures from the Heiser framework are generally small relative to the award specified by the developed framework, absent “circumstances that appreciably worsen” a claimant's “pain and suffering, such as cases involving torture or kidnapping.” Greenbaum v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 451 F.Supp.2d 90, 108 (D.D.C. 2006). Conversely, downward departures may be appropriate where the evidence suggests that the relationship between the victim and his family members is attenuated, Valore, 700 F.Supp.2d at 86, or where a claimant fails to “prove damages in the same manner and to the same extent as any other default winner.” Hill, 328 F.3d at 683 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

All of the Special Master's awards for loss of solatium adhere to the Heiser guidelines and are grounded in sound evidentiary principles. See generally 4th Special Master Rep. Thus, the Court ADOPTS each of the Special Master's recommendations as to solatium damages.

B. Economic Damages

28 U.S.C. § 1605A, like its statutory predecessor 28 U.S.C § 1605(a)(7), establishes a cause of action for economic damages resulting from an act of state-sponsored terrorism. “The report of a forensic economist may provide a reasonable basis for determining the amount of economic damages.” Reed v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 845 F.Supp.2d 204, 214 (D.D.C. 2012). Before recommending the adoption of a forensic analysis, the Special Master must first examine the methodological soundness of the calculations, mindful that “mathematical exactitude is often impossible,” Bova v. Islamic Republic of Iran, No. 15-CV-1074 (RCL), 2020 WL 2838582, at *11 (D.D.C. May 31, 2020), and then examine “the reasonableness and foundation of the assumptions relied upon by the expert,” Roth, 78 F.Supp.3d at 402, to safeguard against “speculation,...