The Aftermath of the 9/11 Litigation: Enforcing the US Havlish Judgments in Europe

47 Pages Posted: 17 Jan 2020 Last revised: 22 Jan 2020

See all articles by Vincent Richard

Vincent Richard

Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law

Edoardo Stoppioni

Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law

Martina Mantovani

Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law

Stephanie Law

Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law; University of Southampton - School of Law

Date Written: December 15, 2019

Abstract

The paper takes stock of the attempts made by the families of the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to enforce, in Europe, the judgment rendered by the Southern District Court of New York in In Re Terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Fiona Havlish and others v Usama Bin Laden and others. It brings together four different contributions, focusing on specific aspects of the Havlish saga. To set the scene for the proper understanding of the Havlish litigations, Stephanie Law analyses the development of the U.S. legal framework on the state-sponsored terrorism exception and its impact on the U.S. proceedings, which resulted in the judgment whose recognition and enforcement is being sought in Europe.

The ruling in March 2019 by a Luxembourg court which has refused recognition and enforcement of the Havlish judgment is thoroughly analysed by Vincent Richard and Edoardo Stoppioni, who deal in turn with the arguments set forth vis-à-vis non-State parties and with the use, by the Luxembourg Court, of the law on State immunity as it applies to the Iranian State and its emanations. Martina Mantovani addresses the parallel attempts made by the U.S. claimants to enforce the Havlish judgments in other European Jurisdictions, which have given rise to ongoing exequatur procedures in England and in Italy.

Keywords: State immunity (exceptions to); State-sponsored terrorism exception; domestic tests of indirect jurisdiction; recognition and enforcement of default judgments; recognition and enforcement of judgments rendered against sovereign states; service of process upon a sovereign State

Suggested Citation

Richard, Vincent and Stoppioni, Edoardo and Mantovani, Martina and Law, Stephanie, The Aftermath of the 9/11 Litigation: Enforcing the US Havlish Judgments in Europe (December 15, 2019). MPILux Research Paper 2020 (1), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3521222 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3521222

Vincent Richard

Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law ( email )

4, rue Alphonse Weicker
Luxembourg, L-2721
Luxembourg

Edoardo Stoppioni

Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law ( email )

4, rue Alphonse Weicker
Luxembourg, L-2721
Luxembourg

Martina Mantovani (Contact Author)

Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law ( email )

4, rue Alphonse Weicker
Luxembourg, L-2721
Luxembourg

Stephanie Law

Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law ( email )

4, rue Alphonse Weicker
Luxembourg, L-2721
Luxembourg

University of Southampton - School of Law ( email )

Southampton SO17 1BJ
United Kingdom

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