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IN RE TERRORIST ATTACKS ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 807
Cite as 349 F.Supp.2d 765 (S.D.N.Y. 2005)

Defendants either dispute the manner in which they were served or were not served in the United States. Accordingly, the Court must consider an alternative basis for personal jurisdiction.

[43] If the New York long-arm statute or the ATA does not establish personal jurisdiction, the Court will engage in a Rule 4(k)(2) analysis. Rule 4(k)(2) states:

If the exercise of jurisdiction is consistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States, serving a summons or filing a waiver of service is also effective, with respect to claims arising under federal law, to establish personal jurisdiction over the person of any defendant who is not subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of general jurisdiction of any state.

Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(k)(2). Rule 4(k)(2) “fill[s] a gap in the enforcement of federal law” for courts to exercise personal jurisdiction over defendants with sufficient contacts with the United States generally, but insufficient contacts with any one state in particular. Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(k)(2) advisory committee’s note; United States v. Int’l Bhd. of Teamsters, 945 F.Supp. 609, 616–17 (S.D.N.Y.1996). For jurisdiction under Rule 4(k)(2), there must be a federal claim, personal jurisdiction must not exist over the defendant in New York or any other state, and the defendant must have sufficient contacts with the United States as a whole such that the exercise of jurisdiction does not violate Fifth Amendment due process. Int’l Bhd. of Teamsters, 945 F.Supp. at 617.

a. Purposefully Directed Activities Theory

Personal jurisdiction based on Rule 4(k) requires minimum contacts with the United States to satisfy Fifth Amendment due process requirements. Plaintiffs claim these requirements are met because De-

fendants purposefully directed their activities at the United States. Burger King v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 472, 479, 105 S.Ct. 2174, 85 L.Ed.2d 528 (1985) (explaining jurisdiction is appropriate if defendant “purposefully directed his activities at residents of the forum and the litigation results from alleged injuries that arise out of or relate to those activities” and finding minimum contacts existed since dispute arose from a contract with substantial contacts with the forum) (internal quotations and citations omitted); Calder v. Jones, 465 U.S. 783, 789, 104 S.Ct. 1482, 79 L.Ed.2d 804 (1984) (finding personal jurisdiction appropriate over non-resident defendants who “expressly aimed” intentionally tortious conduct at residents of forum state, even where defendants were never physically present in forum); see also Daventree, 349 F.Supp.2d 736 at 762–63, 2004 WL 2997881, at *22 (finding exercise of personal jurisdiction under Rule 4(k)(2) is appropriate if defendants “purposefully directed their activities at residents of the forum, and the litigation results from alleged injuries that arise out of or related to those activities”). Pursuant to the holdings in Burger King, Calder, and three recent terrorism cases—Rein v. Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, 995 F.Supp. 325 (E.D.N.Y.1998), Daliberti v. Republic of Iraq, 97 F.Supp.2d 38 (D.D.C. 2000), and Pugh v. Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, 290 F.Supp.2d 54 (D.D.C.2003)—Plaintiffs submit that the moving Defendants knew that the primary target of Osama bin Laden’s and al Qaeda’s campaign of terror was the United States and that by providing assistance to these terrorists, who Plaintiffs claim were Defendants’ co-conspirators, Defendants aimed their conduct at the United States.

In Rein, the court denied defendants’ motions to dismiss for lack of subject matter and personal jurisdiction in a case aris-

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