Boies Schiller Flexner has successfully obtained an order from the English High Court in favor of the representatives and relatives of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks providing for dispensation of service against the Republic of Iran and other Iranian State entities. Boies Schiller Flexner has been acting before several international courts, including the English courts, to recognize and enforce judgments against Iran on behalf of multiple judgment holders, including from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, which found Iran and other Iranian State entities liable for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The decision represents an important development in English State immunity law. Following Iran’s repeated obstruction of service in the English recognition proceedings, the British Embassy Tehran was unable to serve the documents instituting proceedings on the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran in accordance with the State Immunity Act 1978. In particular, Mr. Justice Nigel Teare granted the claimants their primary head of relief, marking the first time an English Court has altogether dispensed with service in proceedings against a State. He held that Iran’s purposeful obstruction of service constituted exceptional circumstances. Further, he opted to exercise his discretion to dispense with service because a refusal to grant the relief sought by the claimants would deny them of any recourse in the proceedings, would effectively grant Iran absolute immunity from suit, and would also potentially deprive the claimants of any relief on limitation grounds.
Prior to this order, English case law interpreted the requirements for service on a State as set out in the State Immunity Act as mandatory (absent agreement by the relevant State), with the English Courts moving away from this position only in two recent 2018 decisions involving Syria, in which service via email and courier was held to constitute valid service following complications arising from the lack of a British diplomatic presence there. However, this case highlights the willingness of the English Courts to go a step further and grant practical solutions to legal problems in exceptional circumstances.
The case in England is being led by London Managing Partner Natasha Harrison, assisted by Partner Fiona Huntriss and Associates Melissa Kelley and Alessia de Quincey.