cozen

Saudi filing faults Cozen suit: The Phila. law firm wants the kingdom held accountable for the Sept. 11 attacks. Saudis say U.S.

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20090106_Saudi_filing_faults_Cozen_suit.html

Posted on Tue, Jan. 6, 2009

Saudi filing faults Cozen suit: The Phila. law firm wants the kingdom held accountable for the Sept. 11 attacks. Saudis say U.S. law prohibits that.

By Chris Mondics
Inquirer Staff Writer

Setting the stage for a critical court decision, lawyers for Saudi Arabia have asserted in court papers that the Supreme Court should reject arguments that the desert kingdom be held accountable for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks because, over a period of many years, it financed al-Qaeda.
In papers filed with the Supreme Court, lawyers for the kingdom and several high-ranking Saudi royals say that U.S. law provides blanket immunity to Saudi Arabia from lawsuits over the 9/11 attacks.

The lawsuit was brought by the Philadelphia law firm of Cozen O'Connor on behalf of dozens of insurance companies that paid out billions in property-damage claims at ground zero. A federal district court judge in Manhattan threw out the case against Saudi Arabia in 2005, and that decision was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

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