Washington (CNN) The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against victims and families of the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole in their lawsuit against Sudan.

The court, 8-1, said the victims did not properly serve notice of their lawsuit to the government of Sudan.

The decision clears the way for lower courts to throw out the more than $314 million default judgment that was awarded to the families.

The case arose from the bombing of the USS Cole, in which 17 US Navy sailors were killed and 42 were wounded when a boat pulled up alongside the USS Cole and exploded while docked at the port of Aden, Yemen.

Surviving sailors and their family members brought suit against Sudan in 2010 alleging that al Qaeda was responsible for the attack and that Sudan had provided material support to al Qaeda. While federal law generally bars civil suits against foreign states in the United States, it provides exceptions, however, for a country that has been designated a state sponsor of terrorism.

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