The Philadelphia law firm Cozen O'Connor sued Saudi Arabia and several Islamist charities in 2003, seeking to hold them financially liable for the 9/11 terror attacks.

Although the Saudis' lawyers won earlier rounds when a judge removed the kingdom and Saudi royals as defendants, the case has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Moreover, a number of the Saudi charities remain as defendants.

Whichever way the court rules, the story behind the suit is a case study in tort law with foreign-policy implications - and billions of dollars at stake.

A two-part Inquirer series – and follow-up articles - trace events that preceded the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and leads to a federal courtroom.
 

Part 1: Pinning the blame for 9/11

May 31: Less than a mile from the mournful place in Lower Manhattan where the World Trade Center came crashing to the ground, in a hushed federal courthouse, a band of Philadelphia lawyers is prying loose secrets of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

It is here that the Cozen O'Connor law firm has filed an 812-page lawsuit on behalf of U.S. and global insurance companies alleging that Saudi Arabia and Saudi-backed Islamist charities nurtured and financed al-Qaeda, the author of those deadly attacks. Read the article

Part 2: How Cozen took on a kingdom for 9/11 liability

June 1: Although the question of who financed the movement that carried out the 9/11 attacks involved complex facts and difficult investigative hurdles, the legal theory behind the case wasn't terribly different from the work that Cozen O'Connor had made a specialty: Look for people or businesses responsible for a loss and make them pay.

That is what led Stephen Cozen's firm to file an 812-page complaint that would seek to hold America's closest ally in the Arab world financially liable. Read the article

A former al-Qaeda fighter accuses a Saudi charity

For years, Saudi Arabia flatly denied it had provided money and logistical support for Islamist militant groups that attacked Western targets.

But that assertion is disputed by a former al-Qaeda commander who testified in a United Nations war-crimes trial that his unit was funded by the Saudi High Commission for Relief of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was founded by the Saudi government. Read the article

Law's exceptions allow citizens to sue foreign nations

While the 1976 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act broadly protects foreign governments against lawsuits filed by U.S. citizens, the act provides exemptions, and federal judges have allowed suits to proceed in two notorious cases involving state-sanctioned assassinations. Read the article

Following the case since then

Cozen O'Connor dealt blow in 9/11 lawsuit

Aug. 15, 2008: An ambitious lawsuit by the Philadelphia firm of Cozen O'Connor blaming the government of Saudi Arabia for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was dealt a sharp setback yesterday when a federal appeals court ruled that the desert kingdom could not be sued for acts of terrorism. Read the article and read the ruling

Another tack in terror-financier lawsuit

Aug. 20, 2008:  Only days after suffering a significant setback in their lawsuit against Saudi Arabia, lawyers at Cozen O'Connor and other plaintiffs' lawyers have opened a new front in their battle to hold terrorism financiers accountable for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Read the article

U.S. high court gets 9/11 appeal

Nov. 14, 2008: Thousands of victims of the 9/11 attacks appealed to the Supreme Court yesterday, asking it to overturn a lower court decision barring lawsuits against Saudi Arabia for supporting acts of terrorism. Read the article

Saudi filing faults Cozen suit

Jan. 6, 2009: In papers filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, lawyers for the kingdom and several high-ranking Saudi royals say that U.S. law provides blanket immunity to Saudi Arabia from lawsuits over the 9/11 attacks. Read the article