Opinion ID: 8704097
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Pain and Suffering for Hostage Plaintiffs

Text: Calculating pain and suffering damages is a difficult task because “there is no market where pain and suffering are bought and sold, nor any standard by which compensation for it can be definitely ascertained, or the amount actually endured can be determined.” Weinstein v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 184 F.Supp.2d 13, 22 (D.D.C.2002). In hostage cases, some courts have calculated damages on a per diem basis — awarding $10,000 per day held in captivity. See, e.g., Price v. Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, 384 F.Supp.2d 120, 134-35 (D.D.C.2005) (awarding $1,050,000 in pain and suffering for 105 days of captivity). However, in Price, where this Court followed the per diem calculation, it also added a significant amount ($7,000,000) to the per diem amount to compensate plaintiffs for pain and suffering that occurred subsequent to the kidnapping. Id. at 135-36. Moreover, in cases where the victims suffered harsh treatment and/or were held only briefly, some courts have also dispensed with the per diem measure altogether. See Cronin v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 238 F.Supp.2d 222, 234 (D.D.C.2002) (concluding that the per diem approach undercompensated plaintiff who had been beaten severely while in captivity for only four days, and awarding a lump sum of $1,200,000) abrogated on other grounds by Cicippio-Puleo v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 353 F.3d 1024 (D.C.Cir.2004). Marvin Wilson and Ronald Wyatt were held for 21 days. They would be entitled to $210,000 each under the per diem measure. This amount is inadequate to compensate plaintiffs for their injuries. Approximately the same amount was awarded to a victim of false arrest and detention in a D.C. police station that lasted no more than a day, see Langevine v. District of Columbia, 106 F.3d 1018 (D.C.Cir.1997), but hostage plaintiffs here were subjected to far worse treatment. True, unlike the plaintiff in Cronin, Wilson and Wyatt were not physically beaten during their captivity, but they were subjected to other forms of physical abuse: they were subjected to long marches at gunpoint through the biting cold of the Turkish wilderness and denied adequate shelter, clothing and food, see supra ¶¶ 15-21, and, according to his widow, Mr. Wyatt returned home in “relatively bad shape” as “his leg had been badly injured during the abduction.” Mary Wyatt Deck ¶ 11. The men were also subjected to a variety of psychological abuse, including repeated threats of death, being lined up for a simulated execution, being forbidden to speak with one another for several days, being forced to listen to anti-American PKK propaganda, and above all, being forced to endure the uncertainty of knowing whether they would live to see their families again. Id. Moreover, after returning home, both had lingering physical and psychological effects from this experience. See supra ¶¶ 28-32. All of this calls for an award greater than what the per diem calculation would require. Plaintiffs request $5,000,000 for each victim in pain and suffering. Proposed Findings of Fact 92, Nov. 20, 2012, ECF No. 34. This amount roughly comports with previous awards of pain and suffering by this Court for FSIA hostage cases. See Price, 384 F.Supp.2d at 135-36 (awarding $8,050,000 in total pain and suffering to hostage victims); Cronin, 238 F.Supp.2d at 234-35 (awarding $1,200,000 in total pain and suffering to a hostage victim). Accordingly, the Court finds that an award to each victim of $5,000,000 in pain and suffering damages is appropriate.