A federal appeals court in Chicago has agreed to an unusual hearing by all of its judges in a court battle over the murder of an American teen by members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The court agreed to the en banc hearing in the landmark civil lawsuit filed by the parents of David Boim, 17, who was killed in a 1996 drive-by shooting on the West Bank.

The lawsuit seeks damages from defendants who the Boims accuse of funding Hamas terrorism. The appeals court hearing could determine whether the defendants can be held financially liable if there is no proof they intended the money given to Hamas to pay for violence.

Stephen Landes, Boim’s parents’ attorney, said the appeals court’s decision could be crucial in determining what it takes to file suit against groups and individuals accused of funneling money to terrorists.

A federal jury in December 2004 ordered three charities and one individual to pay $156 million in damages on the grounds they had funneled money to Hamas and thus contributed to Boim’s death.

But a three-judge panel of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that order last December, saying Joyce and Stanley Boim had failed to show a close enough link between the money contributed by the charities and their son’s killing.

Then on June 16, the appeals court issued a little-noticed order throwing out December’s order and scheduling a hearing of all 11 active judges. Such hearings are unusual but far from rare.

The defendants accused in the lawsuit of funding Hamas terrorism are Muhammad Salah, a former Chicago grocer; the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the American Muslim Society and the Quaranic Literacy Foundation.

Salah is serving a 21-month federal prison sentence after being convicted of lying on written answers to questions in the Boim case.

(Source: Chicago Tribune)