Arab Bank to face May damages trial over Hamas attacks
Arab Bank Plc will face a trial in May to determine how much it owes for providing material support to Hamas in three of two dozen attacks attributed to the Islamic militant group in Israel and the Palestinian territories, according to a court order.
US District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn, New York, on Wednesday scheduled jury selection for May 18 for a damages trial involving claims by 17 of the 310 Americans who were either victims or related to victims of the attacks.
The cases will be the first to have damages assessed after a federal jury in September found Arab Bank liable in what lawyers described as the first terrorism financing civil case to reach trial in the United States.
The plaintiffs accuse the Jordanian bank of violating the Anti-Terrorism Act, a law that lets victims of US-designated foreign terrorist organizations such as Hamas seek damages.
