Summary of the Proceedings

In 2003, Cozen O’Connor filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of dozens of insurers who paid out billions in compensation for property damage and other injuries resulting from the Sept. 11 attacks, seeking to hold accountable alleged material sponsors and supporters of the al Qaeda terrorist organization. Several thousand family members of those killed in the attacks and injured survivors also filed parallel suits. The lawsuits were consolidated into a multi-district litigation proceeding captioned In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, Civil Action No. 03-MDL-1570. Cozen O’Connor was appointed by the Court to Co-Chair the Executive Committee established to prosecute the litigation on behalf of all plaintiffs. 

Among other claims advanced in the sprawling litigation, the 9/11 families and victims have alleged that agents and employees of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia provided assistance to certain of the 9/11 hijackers and plotters. The 9/11 plaintiffs have further alleged that al Qaeda’s development into a sophisticated terrorist organization was fueled principally by financial and operational support from “da’wa organizations” established and sponsored by the Saudi government – commonly described as alleged “charities.”

The case has been pending for more than two decades. The procedural history is labyrinthine. There are thousands of docket entries and court filings, all of which are readily available to the public as PDFs linked to the docket entries at pacer.gov.