Firm Secures Landmark Victory Against Government Contractor on Behalf of Tortured Prisoners Patterson Belknap Team Receives Significant Recognition
November, 2024 - New York, New York
On Tuesday, November 12, a jury in the U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Virginia found a Virginia-based government contractor liable for its role in the torture of the firm's clients at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, ordering the company to pay $42 million in damages to three Iraqi prisoners. The case is the first of its kind to have made it to trial, and the first verdict holding a government contractor legally responsible for torture at the infamous prison. This victory comes after 16 years of litigation, including more than 15 attempts by CACI to have the case dismissed, five appeals, and a mistrial following a hung jury in May 2024. The Patterson Belknap team has received significant recognition for their lead role in this case.
After invading Iraq in 2003, the United States hired private contractor CACI Premier Technology, Inc. to provide interrogation services at Abu Ghraib, where thousands of Iraqis were being held. In April 2004, news outlets reported on the torture of Iraqi prisoners at the site. Investigations from the U.S. military determined that CACI employees had conspired with U.S. soldiers to inflict the abuse.
In 2008, the firm's pro bono partner, the Center for Constitutional Rights, filed a lawsuit against CACI on behalf of three former detainees—a journalist named Salah Al-Ejaili, a fruit vendor named Asa’ad Al-Zuba’e, and a middle school principal named Suhail Al Shimari—who were subject to torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment at Abu Ghraib. The case was brought under the Alien Tort Statute, a federal law from 1789 allowing foreign nationals to seek redress in U.S. courts for certain violations of international law.
Following a six-day-long trial, which featured in-person and remote testimony from the plaintiffs, U.S. generals, CACI employees, and former military personnel involved in the torture, the jury found CACI liable for conspiracy to inflict torture and cruel, inhuman, and degraded treatment. The jury awarded each of the three plaintiffs $3 million in compensatory damages and $11 million in punitive damages, for a total of $42 million in damages against CACI. This was close to the maximum punitive damages award that the Court permitted the plaintiffs to request.
The firm partnered with the Center for Constitutional Rights and co-counsel Shereef Akeel, Charles B. Molster III, and Mohammed Alomari to represent the plaintiffs.
The Patterson Belknap team was featured in the American Lawyer’s “Litigator of the Week” and Law360’s “Legal Lions of the Week” columns for their work on the case. The firm’s lead lawyers, Muhammad Faridi and Mike Buchanan, were also spotlighted in a feature story in The AmLaw Litigation Daily about the firm’s work on the case and the win of a $42 million verdict against a military contractor.
To read the jury verdict, please click here.
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