Victims of Kenya Blast Seek Out U.S. Lawyers

Hundreds of Kenyans seeking compensation from the U.S. government for injuries, death or property damage resulting from last year’s bombing of the U.S. Embassy in this capital are turning to teams of U.S. lawyers working with Kenyan counterparts.

The Law Society of Kenya, the country’s equivalent of a bar association, accused the U.S. lawyers of trying to import the concept of “ambulance chasing” into this East African country.

The U.S. attorneys insist that their intentions are noble.

“It’s moral obligation as much as anything, as well as a legal obligation . . . to vindicate the rights of the Kenyan people who were victimized,” said Oakland attorney John Burris, who was a lead lawyer in Rodney G. King’s civil suit against Los Angeles. “It’s a fair thing to do. When innocent people are injured, they ought to be made whole.”

Even though the Kenyan government and the United States launched programs to assist people after the bombing, there is a widespread belief among many Kenyans that they largely have been forgotten.

Burris said Kenyan victims deserve U.S. compensation because the U.S. government was negligent in failing to heed warnings from its own ambassador that the location of the U.S. Embassy in downtown Nairobi was a profound security risk.

“They made a decision for whatever reason not to upgrade the embassy here,” Burris said. “As a consequence of that, many innocent people were killed, maimed and had their lives destroyed.”

The Aug. 7 blast killed 213 people and injured more than 5,000. A nearly simultaneous explosion at the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killed 11.

Working with Burris are San Francisco-based attorneys J. Wynne Herron of Herron & Herron, an expert in wrongful death suits, and Gerald C. Sterns of Sterns & Walker.

Kenyan law forbids foreign attorneys from practicing in the country, so American lawyers are working with Kenyans. The Kenyans handle research and management of clients. The Americans are responsible for the filing of claims against the U.S. government, which is done in the United States.

Burris said about 1,700 Kenyans have registered with his team. But lawyer Muriithi Wanjao of the Kenyan firm of Wanjao & Wanjao Advocates estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 people might have a case for compensation. So far, 20 claims in cases of injury or death have been filed against the U.S. departments of Defense and State, which had responsibility for the embassy in Nairobi, Burris said.

Victims have two years to make a claim. The U.S. government has six months to respond, Burris said. If the claims are rejected, lawyers can then take the cases to court.

The U.S. lawyers are working on a contingency basis under which victims will not pay them unless there is a settlement.

Lawyers from a second local firm, Ibrahim & Isaack, said they had joined with the Washington-based firm of Musolino & Dessel. Law partner Mohammed Ibrahim said the first suit against the U.S. government and others for compensation already had been filed on behalf of 40 claimants.

Besides U.S. officials, the suit, filed in the District of Columbia, named as defendants officials from Afghanistan and Sudan, a suspected terrorist organization and alleged terror mastermind Osama bin Laden, Ibrahim said.

Last year, a Kenyan commission paid about $4.5 million to 2,992 Kenyans, with payments ranging from $10,800 for relatives of the dead to $500 for those who suffered minor injuries.

The United States spent $5.3 million on emergency needs immediately after the blast. Congress also approved $37 million to be used specifically on bomb blast-related programs.

The money will be used for reconstructive surgery, trauma counseling and humanitarian assistance such as Braille computers.

“We want to make sure that people who have extreme medical needs can be taken care of,” said Greg Gottlieb, coordinator of the Bombing Response Unit at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.

Gottlieb said the U.S. aid was “not compensation.”

“We did not blow ourselves up,” he added. “This is a humanitarian program. We want to help people recover. But people are not going to recover all their losses. This is not what it’s about.”

Many victims, though appreciative of the U.S. donations, said they have not benefited from the aid.

“I’m happy with the little they have been able to offer here and there, but that’s not enough,” said Joseph Kiboti, 52, a government administrator whose right leg was broken during the blast.