Iran ordered to pay $2.65 billion to victims of Marine barracks bombing in Beirut

AP/NY Times:

Iran must pay $2.65 billion to the family members of the 241 U.S. servicemen killed in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, a federal judge ruled Friday, calling it the largest-ever such judgment against another country.

Iran has been blamed for supporting the militant group Hezbollah, which carried out the suicide bombing in Beirut. It was the worst terrorist act against U.S. targets until the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Hundreds of people crowded a federal courtroom to hear Friday's ruling. Parents have grown old since their children were killed. Siblings have grown into middle-age. Children have married and started families of their own.

''These individuals, whose hearts and souls were forever broken, waited patiently for nearly a quarter century for justice to be done,'' U.S District Judge Royce C. Lamberth said as families embraced.

The crowd, many of them weeping, stood and erupted into applause as Lamberth left the bench.

The ruling allows nearly 1,000 family members and estates to try to collect Iranian assets from various sources around the world.

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It was in effect a default judgment, since Iran did not show up to defend it conduct. While I am an opponent of lawfare in the criminal courts, suing in civil courts has several advantages. The main one is it requires the defendants to produce evidence or lose the case. Since the suing party is not the government it does not risk national security information being given to the enemy. It in effect reverses the discovery advantages the enemy enjoys in criminal cases.