Judge allows 9/11 lawsuits against airlines, others

[I. M. Esperto]

This could be the death knell of the ailing American Airlines, United Airlines, and Boeing.

Let's see who the lawyers will be on this.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20030910/ts_usatoday/11829561
USA TODAY

Judge allows 9/11 lawsuits against airlines, others
Wed Sep 10, 8:04 AM ET Add Top Stories - USA TODAY to My Yahoo!


By Laura Parker, USA TODAY

A federal judge in New York City said Tuesday that the airline industry could have guarded against the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and he ruled that lawsuits brought by 70 families of victims can proceed.


Crashes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon (news - web sites) and a field near Shanksville, Pa., "may not have been foreseen," U.S. District Judge ALVIN HELLERSTEIN wrote, but the airlines had a duty to protect their passengers, crew and victims on the ground by better screening passengers. "The. .. defendants controlled who came onto the planes and what was carried aboard," Hellerstein wrote. "They had the obligation to take reasonable care in screening."


The ruling came two days before the second anniversary of the attacks and the deadline for filing personal injury lawsuits in New York. It prompted predictions of a last-minute rush in filings. So far, about 100 lawsuits have been filed.


The defendants American Airlines, United Airlines, Boeing and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the World Trade Center property had asked that the suits be dismissed. They argued that they could not have anticipated suicide attacks that involved deliberately crashing an aircraft.


The judge disagreed. "While it may be true that terrorists had not before deliberately flown airplanes into buildings, the airlines reasonably could foresee that crashes causing death and destruction on the ground was a hazard that would arise should hijackers take control of a plane," he wrote. "The intrusion.....................

[chiglet]

So just "Who" [or should it be "whom"?] can be sued?
The "Airline"? The "Manufacturer"? The "Point of Departure" or even the "Flight Deck Crew".
Perhaps it could be the manufacturer of those so called "Knives" :confused:
Why not the "Government[s]" of the perpertators? Makes just as mush sense to me:rolleyes:
we aim to please, it keeps the cleaners happy

[Airbubba]

Pan Am was certainly sued for the Lockerbie bombing, AA and UAL didn't seem to object very strenuously then. Newspapers referred to the casualties as the "Pan Am victims" and the crash was largely depicted by the media as a failure of airline security rather than an attack on America.

Here's a rather triumphant account of a Lockerbie suit on a law firm's site:

http://www.lemac.co.uk/resources/publication/pan_am.html

A petition for rehearing of one of the PAA suits, it mentions multi-million dollar awards:

http://law.touro.edu/2ndCircuit/Pre95/92-9251.html

Pan Am was also frequently sued for other terrorist attacks, here's an example from the KHI hijacking in 1986:

http://www.tourolaw.edu/2ndCircuit/June98/97-7428.html

And yes, the suits were nails in PAA's coffin.

[I. M. Esperto]

This is an American Laywers wet dream come true.

Never mind it will help destroy the finest mass transportation system in the world, and one of the greatest manufacturers of aircraft, there's big bucks to be made out of this.

[andyb79]

correct me if im wrong(as im sure someone will) but was one of the conditions of the compensation package given to the familes that they couldnt then sue the airlines?

and i can almost understand the case against the airlines but the port authority? surely the case there should be against the engineer who designed the buildings(who admitted that they never thought about the true extent of a fire following a collision by an aircraft) and as for suing boeing chiglet is right they might as well sue the manufacturers of the knives for making them sharp

[Golf Charlie Charlie]

I think the situation is that some 11/9 families elected to refuse the official compensation package offered and chance their luck to obtain higher awards via litigation. Not defending their actions, just saying that this is how it is......

[Pointer]

Most people will think; "this is america at its best" but actualy this is what you get if you downgrade the social system, and those at the top of the food chain don't care to take care of victims in a lower scale.
This is what europe's future will look like. But for now we can call it american..... :ugh:

[MarkD]

in fairness this is like sueing GM after a drink drive accident (perhaps I shouldn't give them ideas).

AA etc. had a hand in pax screening - Boeing merely produced the product.

When this is overturned on appeal this judge should be assigned to drug courts so he can get a feel for how American justice works.

[Floppy Link]

:*

even after a total nuclear war you would still find some lawyer popping out of the rubble looking for somebody to sue...you know what they say about cockroaches...:yuk:

[Jerricho]

We all know the aviation industry isn't in the best shape, but if this lunacy is to continue, are the flying clubs that "taught" them going to be included? This could be the "everyone sues everyone" court case depiected in a South Park episode. :yuk:

[FOXIBOY]

I think this is disgusting why should the airlines be held responsible the same with the ny port authority etc,tha faa said that paper cutters were ok in carry-ons etc so why not file against the faa or the us government but not the airlines etc,but the ones who the lawyers should go after are the fanaticsa who think those hijackers were heros and martyers, no the 3000 who died were the martyers .

[Jordan D]

Good to see I'm not the only one who thinks this reeks of lunacy.

Jordan

[GlueBall]

It's not a financial liability for AA and UA, but it could be for their insurance carriers. The government had in effect declared that the event was an "act of war," therefore limiting commercial liabilities. It means that airline compensation awards cannot exceed insurance liability limits.

[MarkD]

Glueball

AA and UA may not pay directly but they will at least through increased premiums, or if the insurers decline to pay out because of a technicality in the insurance!

When your car insurance goes up and the insurer says "well we were exposed to 9/11 and need to make the dosh back" (it's been said) your opinion may change.

it's the whole attitude of these suing punters of "the insurers will pay, no harm no foul" that bugs me...