Representative Matters


Baker v. Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, pending before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, 2006
Co-counsel for the United States victims and their family members killed and injured in the brutal 1985 terrorist hijacking of EgyptAir Flight 648. Libyan agents forced a large airliner to land in Malta and then held the crew and passengers hostage until their demands were met. The Libyan agents started shooting one Israeli or American passenger in the head and dumping their bodies onto the tarmac once every 15 minutes until they received fuel so they could fly to Libya. The Court recently denied Libya’s second motion to dismiss.

**See Baker v. Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83095

Owens v. Republic of Sudan, pending before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, 2006
Co-counsel for the United States victims and their family members killed and injured in the two massive bombings that destroyed the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. Prior to the embassy bombings, Al Qaeda spent several years inside the Sudan expanding its organization, trainings its terrorists and acquiring unprecedented reach and lethality with the knowledge, support and participation of the Sudanese government.

**See Owens v. Republic of Sudan, 412 F. Supp. 2d 99 (D.D.C. 2006) and Owens v. Republic of Sudan, 374 F. Supp. 2d 1 (D.D.C. 2005).

Heroth v. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, pending before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, 2006
Co-counsel for the victims and their family members injured in the 2003 Al Qaeda bombing of western worker compounds. Negligence in the recruitment of US workers by the Saudi government and its agents put the US workers into a dangerous environment that led to their deaths and injuries. The Saudi government has reaped the benefit of the security and military training provided by the US workers as it strives to protect itself from domestic insurgents. Yet the Saudi government refuses to compensate the US workers when they are attacked by Al Qaeda.

Baragona v. Kuwait Gulf Link and Transport, pending before the United States District Courts for the Northern District of Georgia, 2006
We represent the family of a United States Army officer who died in a tragic traffic accident. Actionable death or injury may result from the simple negligence of private companies operating in an unsafe manner in Iraq. His wrongful and untimely death resulted when a tractor trailer truck owned by a multinational corporation collided with his military vehicle.

Beecham v. Socialist Peoples’ Arab Jamahiriya United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 2005
Successfully briefed and argued an issue of appellate jurisdiction before the DC Circuit. The Libyan government argued a position that would have led to a vast expansion of foreign governments’ ability to use the collateral order doctrine appeal. We argued the Libyan government could base an appeal on the underlying order. The D.C. Circuit agreed with our position.

**See Beecham v. Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, 424 F.3d 1109 (D.C. Cir. 2005).

Litle v. Arab Bank,U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 2005
Co-counsel for over one hundred and fifty plaintiffs in an ongoing action against a Jordanian Bank for the facilitation of acts of international terrorism and provision of material support to various terrorist groups involved in the Second Intifada.

See Linde v. Arab Bank, PLC, 384 F. Supp. 2d 571 (E.D.N.Y. 2005).

September 11th Victims Compensation Fund
Attorneys for the Perles Law Firm, PC represented several clients before the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund. The firm filed claims on behalf of our clients and then represented the clients during hearings before the Special Master. The hearings were conducted after the firm appealed initial determinations by the Victims Fund.

National Information Communication Technology Strategy (NICTS), 2003
The joint project of the Government of Azerbaijan and United Nations Development Programme "National Information Communication Technology Strategy" (NICTS) aims to make ICT advantages accessible to governmental/nongovernmental institutions in Azerbaijan in order to assist this country's overall development. Within the framework of this project, the Perles Law Firm is providing legal assessment of the draft laws establishing a legislative base for Azerbaijan's ICT sector.

Peterson v. Islamic Republic of Iran, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 2003
Counsel for over eight hundred plaintiffs in an ongoing action against a foreign state for the death of over two hundred and forty United States servicemen as a result of state-sponsored terrorism bombing at the Beirut Marine barracks in 1983.

See Peterson v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 264 F. Supp. 2d 46 (D.D.C. 2003).

Jenco v. Islamic Republic of Iran, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 2001
Counsel for plaintiffs in a successful action against a foreign state for the hostage taking and torture of a United States national as a result of state-sponsored terrorism. Final judgment for $314,640,000.

Eisenfeld v. Islamic Republic of Iran, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 2000
Counsel for plaintiff in a successful action against a foreign state for the death of two United States national as a result of state-sponsored terrorism. Final judgment for $327,161,002.

**See Eisenfeld v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 172 F. Supp. 2d 1 (D.D.C. 2000).

Flatow v. Islamic Republic of Iran, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 1998
Counsel for plaintiff in the first successful action against a foreign state for the death of a United States national as a result of state-sponsored terrorism.

**See Flatow v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 999 F. Supp. 1 (D.D.C. 1998).

Crist v. Republic of Turkey, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1997
Successfully defended the Republic of Turkey in an action alleging that North Cypriot property owned by Greek Cypriot-Americans was expropriated by Turkey's 1974 invasion of Cyprus.

**See Crist v. Republic of Turk., 995 F. Supp. 5 (D.D.C. 1998).

Pacific Consolidated Industries v. Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Turkey, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1996
Successfully defended the Republic of Turkey in an action alleging the violation of a forum selection clause in a foreign military procurement contract.

Hugo Princz v. Federal Republic of Germany, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1995
Counsel for plaintiff in the first ultimately successful action by an American Holocaust survivor against Germany for reparations arising from detention in concentration camps, slave labor in German war effort, and personal injury. While the D.C Circuit reversed the lower court’s denial of the Federal Republic of Germany’s motion to dismiss on subject matter jurisdiction, Mr. Perles’ client ultimately received a settlement for his injuries and the dissenting opinion by Judge Patricia Wald added to the momentum behind enacting 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(7), the exception for subject matter jurisdiction over state-sponsors of terrorism.

**See Princz v. Federal Republic of Germany, 26 F.3d 1166 (D.C. Cir. 1994).

Dixilyn Drilling v. Mobile Nigeria Producing, Ltd and the Nigerian National Petroleum Co.,
Conducted preliminary arbitration proceedings and settlement negotiations in Nigeria in a multi-forum contract dispute concerning the lease of an offshore drilling platform.

Japan Whaling Association v. American Cetacean Society, U.S. Supreme Court, 1986
Counsel for plaintiff in the successful co-defense with the United States Department of Justice in an action challenging the Executive's foreign affairs discretion to enter into certain agreements between the governments of the United States and Japan.

**See Japan Whaling Assoc. v. American Cetacean Soc., 478 U.S. 221 (U.S. 1986).