Judge allows 9/11 airline lawsuits to proceed
September 9, 2003 cnn.com
NEW YORK (AP) -- Lawsuits blaming airlines, the Port Authority and the Boeing Co. for injuries and deaths in the September 11 terrorist attacks can proceed, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
The defendants had argued that the suits should be dismissed because they had no duty to anticipate and guard against deliberate and suicidal aircraft crashes and because any alleged negligence on their part was not the cause of the deaths and injuries.
In his 49-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the World Trade Center property, "has not shown that it will prove its defense of governmental immunity as to negligence allegations made by WTC occupants."
The judge also said the evidence he had seen does not support Boeing's argument that the invasion and takeover of the cockpit by the terrorists frees it from liability.
The plaintiffs said Boeing should have designed its cockpit door to prevent hijackers from invading the cockpit.
The plaintiffs had also argued that American and United Airlines and the Port Authority were legally responsible to protect people on the ground when the hijacked aircraft smashed into the twin towers, causing them to collapse.
The ruling was based on the cases of about 70 of the injured and representatives of those who died in the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the crash of a hijacked plane in Pennsylvania.
As a result of the ruling, court officials were preparing for a possible legal onslaught at the Manhattan courthouse as early as this week as some people choose lawsuits over applying to the federal victims compensation fund.
December 22 is the last day families may apply for the fund, created by Congress to provide financial aid to the families of those killed or injured in the attacks and to protect the commercial aviation industry from crippling litigation.
As of late August, 2,275 claims had been filed. But roughly 1,700 families had yet to decide whether to enroll with the fund or sue the airlines, security companies and government agencies.
The average payout has been about $1.5 million, with the highest award $6.8 million. The minimum payout is $250,000.
The fund has made offers averaging $1.41 million to 398 families thus far. About 1,600 families have filed papers stating an interest in applying for the fund.

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