Second Circuit Overturns $655 Million Jury Verdict Against Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority

Abstract

In its August 2016 decision in Waldman v. Palestine Liberation Organization, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed a $655 million jury verdict against the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) for lack of personal jurisdiction. The plaintiffs were individuals whose family members had been killed in terrorist attacks that took place in Jerusalem; defendants were alleged to have coordinated and carried out these attacks. While the United States government took no position on the merits of the dispute, it filed a Statement of Interest in the district court “[o]n the limited issue of setting a bond amount in [the] case.”