 The lawsuit was prolonged over a decade, hampered in part by the lack of Sudan sending counsel at times, but further struggled when the legal system ruled that foreign nations had sovereign immunity from cause of action in civil lawsuits based on the current language of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act in a 2004 case.Congress amended the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act in 2008 to correct this and to allow its provisions to retroactively apply to existing lawsuits, including Owens' case.With that, hundreds more plaintiffs joined the suit, eventually with more than 700 parties listed.