Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act
Awarding Punitive Damages Against Foreign States Is Dangerous and Counterproductive
Haim Abraham Fri, Mar 1, 2019, 8:00 AM
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia held recently that Syria is liable for the death of American war correspondent Marie Colvin and awarded Colvin’s family $302.5 million—$2.5 million in compensatory damages and $300 million in punitive damages. Colvin was killed in Syria when President Bashar Assad’s forces bombed the Baba Amr Media Center in Homs while she was in the facility.