Hagens Berman assisted an American family in obtaining a $69 million judgment in November of 2018 against a Colombian terrorist organization pursuant to the Anti-Terrorism Act. Enforcement efforts are now proceeding against the terrorist organization’s assets. U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary M. Collyer’s judgment of $23 million on behalf of nine of the plaintiffs' family members was automatically trebled in the case.
Hagens Berman represents the family of an American geologist who was kidnapped in Colombia in 1996 by the Colombian terrorist organization known as FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. After the geologist’s family failed to pay a ransom, his body was located in the Colombian jungle in 1997. The FBI and U.S. State Department linked the kidnapping and murder to FARC. In 2004, the family was notified by the FBI that a senior FARC commander who was responsible for the murder had been arrested and was being extradited to the United States.
In 2008, the family sued FARC and its senior commander after the commander was found guilty in federal court of conspiracy to commit hostage taking. The commander is now serving a 60-year sentence in the United States at the ADX Florence “Supermax” prison in Florence, Colorado.
CASE TIMELINE
Hagens Berman assisted an American family in obtaining a $69 million judgment in November of 2018 against a Colombian terrorist organization pursuant to the Anti-Terrorism Act. Enforcement efforts are now proceeding against the terrorist organization’s assets. U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary M. Collyer’s judgment of $23 million on behalf of nine of the plaintiffs' family members was automatically trebled in the case.
