East African Embassy Bombings

Representing Victims of the 1998 Nairobi Bombing

Wheeler & Franks Law Firm PC is one of a team of attorneys and firms retained to represent a number of individuals and families affected by the United States Embassy bombing in Nairobi, Kenya in August of 1998. In June 2002, we filed the first lawsuit in this case on behalf of the individuals killed and injured in the bombing of the United States Embassy in Nairobi. In this case, the Judge ruled that the recovery of damages under the terrorism law only applied to United States citizens.

Once the Judge made that ruling, our team of lawyers went to work immediately to change the law. Attorney John Eaves was a Democratic nominee for the United States Congress and Governor of Mississippi. He had important and substantial contacts in the U.S. Congress. Attorney Steve Perles is a well-known Washington attorney and has litigated these types of claims for over 20 years. He is well known among many United States Senators and Congressmen. Attorney Jamie Franks served in the Mississippi legislature for more than a decade and has been the Chairman of the Democratic Party since 2007. Bill Wheeler served in the Mississippi legislature, was nominated for U.S. Congress and served four years in President Clinton's administration and have many friends in the Senate and Congress of the United States.

All of these attorneys utilized the connections that it has taken us a lifetime to develop to change the terrorism law to include foreign nationals working for the U.S. Embassy or working for a contractor for the U.S. Embassy.

We were finally successful in the spring of 2008 in getting the law changed to include individuals who were not United States citizens but were employees and contractors working for the United States Embassy. We immediately met with the Judge and at his direction filed the new complaint in August 2008.

This lawsuit was tried in Washington, DC on October 25-29, 2010. At this trial, Attorney Edward MacAllister methodically connected the dots to prove that Sudan and Iran materially supported Al-Qaeda in bombing the United States Embassy in Nairobi. Federal Judge John Bates made a ruling finding Sudan and Iran liable under the amended terrorism law for materially supporting the terrorist activities of Al Qaeda.

The suit is currently in its damages phase. The court rendered final monetary verdicts for claimants in July 2014.

Learn more - "Nairobi blast victims seek Sh100m each"