Thursday January 10 8:20 PM ET
Bin Laden to Receive Notice of Lawsuits Via Media
Bin Laden to Receive Notice of Lawsuits Via Media
By Gail Appleson, Law Correspondent NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge has ruled that
people suing Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) for the Sept. 11 attacks can serve
him formal notice of a lawsuit through media outlets including
Qatar's al-Jazeera television and Afghan newspapers. The judge made the unusual ruling -- in papers dated Dec.
20 and obtained from his office by news organizations on
Thursday -- because the whereabouts of bin Laden are unknown. Defendants usually receive notice of a complaint by letter
or personal delivery. But U.S. District Judge Harold Baer, who
is overseeing two cases filed against bin Laden and others in
Manhattan federal court, said the extraordinary circumstances
make those steps impossible. Without proper service, Baer lacks jurisdiction over bin
Laden -- blamed by the United States for the Sept. 11 attacks
on America that killed more than 3,000 people -- and other
defendants in the suits and is powerless to take further action
in either suit. ``The unfortunate reality seems to be that no legitimate
authority knows his (bin Laden's) location and it is not
improbable that he will continue to evade capture for some time
yet,'' Baer said in the ruling dated late last month. TRADE TOWERS VICTIMS His ruling applies to two cases filed by families of
victims killed in the hijack attacks that destroyed the World
Trade Center in New York. One of the cases was filed on Oct. 11. It was the first
civil case growing out of the strikes. That suit was brought by the widow of a man killed on the
roof of one of the towers. She is identified as Jane Doe to
keep her identity secret out of fear of retaliation. The other case, filed in November, was brought by the
estate of business analyst George Smith. He also died in the
World Trade Center. Other defendants in the suits are the Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan (news - web sites), bin Laden's militant al Qaeda network and the
Taliban, Afghanistan's former rulers. James Beasley, a Philadelphia lawyer who is involved in
both cases, has said he believes recovery is possible because
of the defendants' assets frozen in the United States and
overseas.
''Bin Laden is now the subject of an international manhunt and
while his whereabouts may soon become known to his pursuers, at
present Smith and Doe cannot readily obtain his address and
should not be made to wait until his apprehension or demise to
commence litigation,'' Baer wrote. ``Should bin Laden be killed or simply disappear, it would
likely be difficult and time consuming for Smith or Doe to
institute a lawsuit against his estate in either Saudi Arabia,
where his family is based but from which he was stripped of
citizenship in 1994 or in Afghanistan, whose legal system is
currently in disarray.'' Given the circumstances, Baer said he was allowing an
alternative means of service in newspapers and television for
six weeks. The outlets are: Afghan newspapers Hewad, Anis, Kabul News
and Kabul Times; Pakistani newspaper Wahat, in which bin Laden
published a religious decree against Americans; and
broadcasters al-Jazeera, Turkish CNN, BBC World, ARN and ADF. The judge said that the plaintiffs have agreed in court
papers to publish notice of the suits in each of the media
outlets.
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