From yesterday's Eleventh Circuit decision by Judge Stanley Marcus, joined by Judges Jill Pryor and Britt Grant, in Watson v. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia:
This violent and tragic case arose out of a shooting rampage involving Royal Saudi Air Force ("RSAF") Second Lieutenant Mohammed Saeed Al-Shamrani … at Pensacola Naval Air Station … on December 6, 2019. The shooting resulted in [three deaths and serious injuries to many others] ….
[W]e agree that most of the Plaintiffs' [survivors' and victims' families'] claims were properly dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, and the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act …. {These claims fail either because they fall within discretionary functions that are immune from suit; they are based on acts of omission; they are based on tortious acts committed by Al-Shamrani that did not fall within the scope of his employment; they did not proximately cause the Plaintiffs' injuries; or, finally, they do not establish a prima facie breach of contract claim.} …
However, one group or bundle of the Plaintiffs' claims-those based on the theory that the Kingdom had been grossly negligent in vetting, hiring, and sending Airman Al-Shamrani to the United States—is facially sufficient to survive the jurisdictional attack … because they are based on a series of acts of commission (rather than acts of omission) taken by the Kingdom … that rose to the level of gross negligence under Florida law….
The Amended Complaint tells us that the shooter, Mohammed Saeed Al-Shamrani, was a Second Lieutenant in the RSAF and a member of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ("AQAP"). He was also a citizen, resident, employee, and agent of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In 2012, Al-Shamrani became active on Twitter, using an account that bore his first and last name and that was easily traceable to him. By 2015, Al-Shamrani allegedly was following religious extremist and hardline clerics on Twitter, and his Twitter account showed evidence of radicalization and the expression of violent anti-American sentiments. Al-Shamrani also allegedly contacted operatives from AQAP by this time.
