The U.S. government is moving closer to intervening in a civil case over deadly Palestinian terror attacks as Justice and State Department officials met Tuesday with victims’ families.
A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Kent Yalowitz, said the U.S. was “considering putting a thumb on the scale” because the Palestinian government opposes the jury verdict.
At issue is $218.5 million in damages awarded by a New York jury in February for attacks that killed 33 people and wounded hundreds more – a penalty that lawyers say would be automatically tripled under the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act, but that the State Department fears could weaken the stability of the Palestinian government.
“The Palestinians got a fair trial. The judgment was foreseeable, and they can afford to pay it over time,” Yalowitz said.
{Matzav.com Israel News Bureau}
Even without intervention, jury awards like this are almost always reduced substantially, especially in federal court. I would not be surprised to see it reduced by 90%. Conservatives have been campaigning against such awards for decades and the courts are now packed with judges who routinely reduce them.