WASHINGTON (JTA) — A New York appeals court reversed a lower court ruling preventing the estate of an American terror victim from collecting a multimillion-dollar judgment.
A Palestinian bank, the Palestine Monetary Authority, had argued to a Manhattan judge and won a summary judgment that it was not affiliated with the Palestinian Authority or the Palestine Liberation Organization, and thus its $30 million in fund transfers with the Bank of New York should not be frozen to pay the estate of Yaron Ungar.
The Ungar estate won a $116 million award against the PLO and Palestinian Authority in June 2004 after Ungar and his Israeli wife, Efrat, were shot and killed in a 1996 terrorist attack in Israel.
The appeals court said the money should remain frozen and tossed out the summary judgment ruling for the Palestine Monetary Authority. The bank will have to prove in court that it is not part of the Palestinian Authority or PLO.
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