Greenberg Traurig has applauded the dismissal of a 417-page complaint accusing the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government of crimes against humanity in violation of U.S. federal law.
“We are grateful for the court’s expeditious decision dismissing the baseless allegations made against the Kurdistan Regional Government,” Richard A. Edlin, vice chair of GT, said in a press statement. “We believe it to be an excellent one that recognizes the exigencies of a frivolous case.”
District Judge Randolph D. Moss of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the amended civil complaint Oct. 7 because it lacked a required “short and concise statement of the allegations,” according to statements he made during a status hearing announcing his intentions to dismiss with the consent of the plaintiffs.
Tate Bywater filed the lengthy amended complaint in May on behalf of the nonprofit Kurdistan Victims Fund and several individuals demanding more than $9 billion in damages under the Torture Victims Protection Act of 1991 and the Antiterrorism Act. The complaint named 63 defendants, including the Iraqi Kurdistan government represented by GT.
“We intend to file a simplified, shorter amended complaint prior to Jan. 10, 2025,” Tate Bywater partner James R. Tate said Tuesday in a statement to the National Law Journal. “The complaint was dismissed without prejudice with our consent.”
Most of the plaintiffs are citizens of Iraq who sued the Kurdistan Regional Government in District of Columbia federal court under the Alien Tort Statute of 1789. The now-dismissed complaint accused Iraqi Kurdistan of operating a “continuing criminal enterprise” of murder, hostage-taking and other violent offenses not immunized by the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.