AMR Corp.’s American Airlines and UAL
Corp.’s United Airlines had a duty to protect against terrorist
hijackings, a judge said in allowing suits arising from the Sept.
11, 2001, attacks to proceed.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein refused to dismiss
claims against the world’s two largest air carriers and 14 other
airlines and security firms. The Port Authority of New York and
New Jersey, owner of the World Trade Center, and the leaseholder
for the destroyed complex, World Trade Center Properties LLC,
must also defend against suits by victims and surviving family
members, the judge said.
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Hellerstein rejected a claim by the airlines and security
firms that the attacks were unforeseeable, and that they should
not be held liable for those hurt or killed in the trade center
or the Pentagon. They concede liability for air passengers who
perished.
“The Aviation defendants controlled who came onto the
planes and what was carried aboard,” the judge said in a 49-page
opinion. “They had the obligation to take reasonable care in
screening precisely because of the risk of terrorist hijackings,
and the dangerous consequences that would inevitably follow.”
The ruling comes as many of the injured and relatives of the
3,000 people who died in attacks on the trade center, the
Pentagon, and in the crash of a hijacked jet in Pennsylvania, are
weighing whether to sue or seek payment from a federal
compensation fund. The deadline for applying is Dec. 22. About
$628 million has been paid to 2,299 claimants as of last week.
BLoomberg News
