Victims of the 9/11 attacks will have another chance to sue the Saudi Arabian government after a federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the original dismissal of the case was an “error of law.”
A three-judge panel for the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York reversed itself after finding that it had “treated cases arising from the same incident differently.”
The appeals panel noted it had allowed a similar 2011 case against Afghanistan to go forward.
“Inconsistent results for victims of the same incident pose a unique problem of unfairness,” Justice Chester Straub wrote.
Thousands of people injured in the attacks, the families of those killed and insurance agencies sued Saudi Arabia for monetary damages in 2002.
They claimed the Saudi nationals who crashed planes into the Twin Towers and Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pa., had been supported by the kingdom.
They said Saudi money funneled through Islamic charities funded terrorism.
The suit was filed against kingdom officials, including Princes Sultan, Turki and Mohammed.
Manhattan District Court Judge Richard Casey tossed the case in 2005, finding the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act shielded the Saudis.
The US Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
Stephen Cozen, the plaintiffs’ attorney, hailed Thursday’s decision. He said victims could win “tens of billions of dollars.”
“This opinion is eminently correct and will give 9/11 victims their day in court,” he told Reuters.
“The parties will start over, and we are very, very satisfied that we will meet any defenses, both legal and factual, that are raised.”
Michael Kellogg, the attorney representing Saudi Arabia, told The Post that the country “will seek further review of this erroneous decision.”
He predicted the case would be thrown out again “for other reasons.”
“The government of Saudi Arabia has long asserted, and the United States 9/11 Commission has found, that those allegations are categorically false,” he said.