Filed Date: Jan. 27, 2026
Case Ongoing
Clearinghouse coding complete
This suit challenges the extrajudicial killing of two individuals fishing in the waters off the coast of Venezuela in a United States missile strike made without congressional approval.
On October 14, 2025, the United States government launched a missile strike against a boat carrying six people traveling from Venezuela to Trinidad. The strike killed all six passengers, including Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo, two Trinidadian nationals who were fishing in waters off the Venezuelan coast and returning to their homes in nearby Trinidad and Tobago.
The strike was part of a U.S. military campaign against small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean. The campaign has launched 36 strikes and killed an estimated 125 people, without congressional approval. The United States has defended these strikes as part of a non-international armed conflict supposedly involving the United States and unspecified “drug cartels.”
The family members of Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo brought this suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against the United States of America on January 27, 2026. They alleged that the “United States’ unlawful killings of persons at sea, including Mr. Joseph and Mr. Samaroo, constitute wrongful deaths and extrajudicial killings as recognized by two federal statutes that entitle their survivors to compensation and redress”: the Death on the High Seas Act (“DOHSA”) and the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”). They also alleged tort claims under general admiralty and maritime law. The Plaintiffs sought pecuniary, compensatory, and punitive damages. The case was assigned to Judge Leo Theodore Sorokin.
In their complaint, the Plaintiffs argued that the “United States’ killings of people aboard boats in the Caribbean through missile strikes are wrongful and violate international law regardless of which international legal regime applies.” First, there is “no non-international armed conflict with the drug cartels purportedly targeted in the strikes (and no evidence that the boats targeted are associated with cartels).” And second, “even if there were a non-international armed conflict between the United States and drug cartels (and even if there were evidence that the boats targeted were associated with the cartels), the strikes would constitute war crimes under the laws of war and federal law.”
On January 28, 2026, Magistrate Judge Paul G. Levenson recused himself from the case pursuant to 28 USC § 455.
This case is ongoing.
Summary Authors
Madena Mustafa (2/25/2026)
For PACER's information on parties and their attorneys, see: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72191479/parties/burnley-v-united-states/
Sorokin, Leo Theodore (Massachusetts)
Rossman, Jessie J. (Massachusetts)
Schlossberg, Suzanne (Massachusetts)
See docket on RECAP: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72191479/burnley-v-united-states/
Last updated March 30, 2026, 3:11 a.m.
State / Territory:
Case Type(s):
Special Collection(s):
Trump Administration 2.0: Challenges to the Government
Key Dates
Filing Date: Jan. 27, 2026
Case Ongoing: Yes
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
Family members of two Trinidadian nationals killed in a US missile strike off the coast of Venezuela
Plaintiff Type(s):
Attorney Organizations:
Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)
Public Interest Lawyer: Yes
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: No
Class Action Outcome: Not sought
Defendants
Federal
United States of America
Defendant Type(s):
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1350
Other Dockets:
District of Massachusetts 1:26-cv-10364
Available Documents:
Outcome
Prevailing Party: None Yet / None
Relief Sought:
Relief Granted:
Source of Relief:
Issues
General/Misc.:
Case Summary of Burnley v. United States, Civil Rights Litig. Clearinghouse, https://clearinghouse.net/case/47777/ (last updated 2/25/2026).