Law firms restart 9/11 Saudi suits

NEW YORK: For years, family members of those killed on Sept 11 and insurance companies tried unsuccessfully through the courts to hold Saudi Arabia or businesses and organisations there responsible for the terrorist attacks. Now that Congress has cleared the way, they are making a fresh effort.

Next year, the federal courts will make rulings signalling to family members of those killed and injured first responders whether passage of the 2016 Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act was a symbolic exercise or a catalyst to getting them to trial.

Lawyer Timothy Litzenburg said his firm raced to court after Congress overrode former president Barack Obama’s veto in September, hoping to get an early start on winning damages for litigants.

“We thought maybe we could do the first trial,” he said. But now that the lawsuits have been consolidated before a federal court, Litzenburg predicts it could be a decade before there is a resolution for over a dozen lawsuits filed against the kingdom. AP