US Supreme Court gives pharma companies a chance to thwart terrorism-funding lawsuit

The U.S. Supreme Court gave a boost on Monday to a challenge by 21 pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies led by AstraZeneca to a lawsuit accusing them of illegally helping to fund terrorism that killed or injured hundreds of American troops and civilians in Iraq.

The justices threw out a lower court’s ruling that revived a lawsuit brought by the military personnel and civilians who said they were harmed between 2005 and 2011 in the Iraq war. The justices asked the lower court to reconsider the case.

The plaintiffs accused major U.S. and European pharmaceutical and device makers of providing corrupt payments to the Hezbollah-sponsored militia group Jaysh al-Mahdi in order to obtain medical supply contracts from Iraq’s health ministry. The plaintiffs alleged the militia group controlled the health ministry.

Read more: Reuters