Background
In 2003, a group of victims of a September 4, 1997 explosion in Israel (a suicide bombing in Ben Yehuda mall in Jerusalem) won $71 million in a judgment in a U.S. court against Iran for being a "state sponsor of terrorism". Hamas had claimed responsibility for the attack, so some American visitors filed the federal lawsuit against Iran and Iranian officials, claiming that Hamas was financed by Iran, making the country legally responsible for their suffering. The case is formally called Jenny Rubin, et al. vs. the Islamic Republic of Iran, et al.
After Iran ignored the judgment, Judge Ricardo M. Urbina issued a default judgment for the plaintiffs, awarding them $423.5 million in damages., including $300 million in punitive damages.
After the verdict, the question was how to collect. The former monarchy of Iran had billions of dollars in assets within the United States that were frozen after the 1979 Iranian Revolution. However in order to secure an end to the Iranian Hostage Crisis, the assets were unfrozen and most if not all of it, was collected by 1982 due to the Iran-Iraq War. Rhode Island attorney David J. Strachman, along with other attorneys, representing the plaintiffs, found that the late Shah had purchased a home in Lubbock, Texas for his son, which was sold for $400,000;. After that, they attempted to go after assets of Iranians who had previously worked for the former monarchy, but the U.S. courts would overturn all their attempts to seize their assets, as they were not found to be liable for the damages. They then went after Iranian-owned objects held by U.S. museums in Illinois, Massachusetts and Michigan. The Oriental Institute and its holdings from Persepolis became a primary target. Strachman said collectors are interested in the antiquities, potentially for tens of millions of dollars.
The university had argued sovereign immunity, i.e., under federal law, "certain property owned by foreign governments is protected from court judgments." The university was arguing that on Iran's behalf, saying that "the Iranians were gun-shy because of bad experiences with the American legal system." The victims characterized the university and other institutions as defending Iran.
Read more about this topic: University Of Chicago Persian Antiquities Crisis
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