An Ally to Victims of Terrorism

In 1983, terrorists drove vans into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon and detonated bombs. They took the lives of 241 U.S. Servicemen and injured another 138 Americans within the blast. It become the deadliest unmarried terrorist act towards U.S. Citizens previous to the September 11 assaults. In 2001, some of the survivors and households of those killed in Beirut filed claims towards Iran for its country-backed terrorism. More than a decade later, a ruling in 2012 declared that Iran would be held chargeable for extra than $813 billion in damages to those hurt through the event.

The identical 12 months, Congress passed a regulation that makes it less complicated for the families of terrorism sufferers to get better repayment from the sponsors of such violence.

Then, in a landmark selection, the Supreme Court declared that almost $2 billion in Iranian frozen property might be to be had for disbursements.

As a agreement planning company led by using compassion and sturdy principals, Milestone stepped up to assist the ones survivors and households of the sufferers as they planned for their economic recoveries. Our firm helped take the guesswork out of agreement planning, and guided them via a really tough transition toward monetary security.

Around the same time, Milestone furnished pro bono paintings for households of 11th of September sufferers. We efficiently lobbied for a regulation that allowed for the creation of pro bono dependent settlements in connection with the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund. In 2013, we lobbied for an change to the authentic regulation that elevated the scope of “terrorism” to apply to all acts of terrorism, as a way to include the families within the Bank Markazi litigation, who had obtained judgments in opposition to Iran for its role the Beirut barracks bombings and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing.

Most recently, Milestone came to the help of victims and families of sufferers of the 1998 United States embassy bombing in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. In this terrorist attack for which al Qaeda claimed obligation, 11 individuals have been killed and 85 have been wounded. In 2017, the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund (USVSST) offered Tanzanian and American households in Tanzania with settlement monies in try to offer some type of justice. John Bair from Milestone traveled to Africa to teach individuals who have been receiving money from this fund, and to help them plan how to use it maximum responsibly and to suppose lengthy-term.

Back in 2015 the U.S. Department of Justice installed the USVSST to be able to compensate U.S. Victims of international acts of terrorism. These individuals consist of the Iran hostages held from 1979 to 1981 and their families, sufferers of the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, victims of the assault at the U.S.S. Cole, and numerous other global terrorist incidents.

We at Milestone believe that it's far our obligation to lend a hand to individuals who face tragedy suddenly, and we're commemorated to have the opportunity to help these sufferers and their families. Our team will continue to apply our competencies and knowledge to aid the civil justice network in defensive sufferers and their families as quality it may.