Trump administration favors terror victims over Boeing Iran deal

Judge Castillo’s ruling

opens up a legal mine field for Boeing, and for any other U.S. corporation seeking to do business with the Islamic regime in Iran.

The Trump administration pointedly put national security over trade when it told an Illinois District Court this week that it “does not take a position” on whether the Court should shield aerospace giant Boeing Corp from a lawsuit filed by victims of Iranian state terrorism.

As I wrote at Frontpagemag today:

The family of Shlomo Leibovitch is seeking to collect on a $67 million judgment against Iran for a 2003 terror attack that killed their seven-year old daughter, and sued Boeing to gain access to what it believed were Iranian assets in Boeing’s possession.

Boeing signed a $16 billion deal in 2016 to sell civilian airliners to the state-owned Iran Air, a defendant in numerous lawsuits by victims of Iranian state-sponsored terrorism. In any airplane deal of that size, the purchaser will make advance payments while the aircraft are being produced.

It was those payments the Leibovitch family was seeking to attach and that Boeing was seeking to conceal.

Chief Judge Ruben Castillo ruled on Tuesday that Boeing must produce the contractual documents to the terror victims, to include financial documents relating to advance payments as well as Boeing’s communications with the Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control, which licensed the sale during the final weeks of the Obama administration.

Judge Castillo’s ruling is worth reading in full.

When Boeing argued that disclosure of its contract with Iran would “risk destabilizing the purpose of the JCPOA to provide for regional and international peace and security” – a dubious claim at best – Judge Castillo decided to ask the U.S. government for its opinion.

In response, the Justice Department filed a statement of interest, noting that its opinion represented that of the entire Executive Branch.

DoJ said that “the United States does not take a position on whether the Court should order the requested discovery.”

That in itself was a slap in the face to Boeing, and arguably a master step by the Trump White House, since it effectively puts the kibosh on the Boeing Iran deal without explicitly banning it.

Boeing cannot sell aircraft if the deposits its clients make during production are attached by victims of terrorism in the courts.

In his ruling, Judge Castillo examined Boeing’s arguments and found them wanting.

Boeing first argues that Plaintiffs’ motion to compel should be denied because “enforcing Plaintiffs’ [discovery] requests would require the Court to resolve nonjusticiable political questions. (p8)

… [T]he Court agrees with Plaintiffs that Boeing’s reliance on the political question doctrine in misplaced. This Court is being called to decide a discovery dispute, plain and simple. Although the discover sought certainly has “political overtones,” Japan Whaling Ass’n, 478 U.S. at 230, the Court is not deciding any issue at this juncture that is committed to some other branch of the government or for which there are no judicially manageable standards for resolving. [p10-11]

Boeing next argues that the Court should “abstain” from deciding the discovery motion under principles of international comity. But as Judge Castillo points out,

Boeing’s argument on this point is somewhat unclear, but as best as can be discerned, Boeing believes that adjudicating this discovery dispute will “frustrate the purpose” of the Iran Nuclear Deal and offend the other sovereign-nation signatories to the agreement by potentially hindering the airplane deal. [p13]

Judge Castillo finds that argument wanting as well.

In resolving this dispute, the Court will be applying well-settled American law governing discovery disputes, not the law of some other nation. [p14]

Boeing then argues that the discovery requests are “irrelevant” to [Plaintiff’s] efforts to satisfy their judgment” because at present it is unclear if the contract will result in any Iranian assets being located in the United States where they could be attached.

At bottom, Boeing’s argument appears to be that, because it will be difficult or impossible for Plaintiffs to actually collect any money as a result of these discovery requests, the Court should simply deny them as futile.

Boeing misunderstands the nature of this proceeding… Plaintiffs are not actually attaching any assets at present; they are only seeking to discover information about potential assets of Iran that may be attachable. [p16-17]

Going back to my FrontPagemag column from today, Judge Castillo’s ruling

opens up a legal mine field for Boeing, and for any other U.S. corporation seeking to do business with the Islamic regime in Iran.

U.S. courts have awarded victims of Iranian state terrorism 99 separate judgments worth more than $53 billion, nearly half of which are compensatory damages that can be collected against Iranian assets held outside the United States.

…With the Boeing sale now potentially in jeopardy, other corporations are sure to wonder if they, too, could be made to pay the price for the terrorist actions of the Iranian regime.

March 2, 2018