More than 150 plaintiffs who had a family member killed or critically injured in the 9/11 terrorist attacks will seek review from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit after a federal judge dismissed their lawsuit seeking compensation from the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund.

“We’ll see what the D.C. Circuit has to say,” Bruce Strong, an Anderson Kill shareholder who represents the 154 plaintiffs, said Thursday in an interview. “We are going to fight this issue and try to get the judge to rule on the merits of the complaint. We just want to be heard on the merits.”

U.S. District Senior Judge John D. Bates of the District of Columbia on Wednesday dismissed the plaintiffs’ complaint, ruling he lacked jurisdiction under federal law to review whether the plaintiffs are eligible for payments under the terrorism victims fund.

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“This ruling protects what we believe is an erroneous decision from review,” Strong said in an interview with Law.com and the National Law Journal. “It is a blow to these families who have already suffered so much.”

Anderson Kill on behalf of the plaintiffs filed a complaint Feb. 21 naming U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Brown as defendants and seeking a court order under the Administrative Procedure Act that would declare the plaintiffs eligible to participate in the VSST Fund

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