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Cicippio-Puleo Ruling
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit released its opinion in the matter of Elizabeth A. Cicippio-Puleo et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran, Iranian Ministry of Information and Security on January 16, 2004 for download from there. The case number is 01cv01496 in the lower court, and 02-7085 in the appellate court. The case was argued at the appellate level on December 15, 2003.
The decision is not the last word on this matter. The court dismissed the case to the extent that plaintiffs failed to state a claim under the terrororism exception of section 1605(a)(7) of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, 28 U.S.C. §§1330, 1602-11, and the Flatow Amendment in 28 U.S.C. § 1605 which allow exceptions to the rules of foreign sovereign immunity. But the court remanded the matter to allow plaintiffs to pursue other avenues because they may have been confused by the law. The decision also appears to encourage the Congress of the United States of America to decide whether a cause of action should lie against foreign states. Courts themselves may not imply a cause of action where Congress has not affirmatively decided to permit one, the appellate court determined.
The case centers around the distress caused Joseph Cicippio's family by his being held hostage for 1908 days in hostile conditions, beginning in 1976, by Hizbollah, which the opinion states to be an agent of the defendant. -- Contributed by Clemens Kochinke, Berliner, Corcoran & Rowe, LLP, Washington, DC.
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