October 04-2013
The first Canadian to sue Iran In Canada for injuries done in a terrorist attack may never get a penny because several Americans have gotten to the money first.
Dr. Sherri Wise, 43, a Vancouver dentist, sued Iran Friday for training, arming and financing the Hamas terrorists who attacked her in Israel in 1997.
On Monday, her lawyer, Mark Freiman, appeared in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto to try to prevent a judge from awarding Iran’s more than $2.6-million in Canadian assets to three sets of American terror victims.
But Justice David Brown turned him down. He gave no reasons for his decision, saying only that Wise had not met the requirements to intervene in the case. He said he would explain his decision in written reasons shortly.
When the Justice of Victims of Terrorism Act came into effect last year, it was meant to empower Canadians to use the civil courts to pursue terrorists and their state sponsors for damages. But her lawyer said that following Monday’s decision Wise might end up with nothing.
Before she filed her suit, three sets of American terror victims filed cases against Iran in Ontario. Unable to collect on judgments they were awarded by US courts because Iran had no identified property there at the time, they asked the Ontario court to award them Iran’s assets in Canada. But the more than $300-million in judgments they were awarded by US courts far exceeds the value of Iran’s assets in Canada. As a result, there likely will be nothing left for Wise by the time her case makes it through the courts.
Wise was volunteering at a Jerusalem dental clinic for underprivileged children when three Hamas terrorists detonated suicide bombs at a Jerusalem pedestrian mall. She tried to sue Iran for damages in the United States but was not permitted to do so because she was not a US citizen and the US law limits “victims of terrorism” suits to US citizens.
At that time, she was unable to file a suit in Canada because Iran enjoyed immunity. But Canada’s Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act lifted that immunity last September.
The Americans are not suing Iran under that act, since only Canadians can do so. The Americans have asked the Canadian court to recognize the judgment they won earlier in the US and enforce those judgments by turning over Iranian assets to them. Canadians can do the same thing in US courts.
Wise’s suit, filed in the British Columbia Supreme Court Friday, accuses Iran of supplying Hamas with weapons, training and money, knowing it would be used for terrorist attacks. “Without the financial and other support that it received from the defendants [Iran], Hamas could not have carried out the bombing,” her claim reads.
The attack left Wise with burns on 40 percent of her body, permanent hearing loss, persistent pain, scars and post-traumatic stress, the claim says. She also had to pay her medical and rehabilitation costs out of her own pocket, and “her career path has been disrupted, resulting in income loss and frustration.”
