Judge’s ruling allows 9/11 suits

NEW YORK — A judge ruled yesterday that the hijacking and crashing of jetliners was a “foreseeable risk,” opening the door to hundreds of September 11 lawsuits against the aviation industry.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said negligent security screening might have contributed to the deaths of 3,000 people in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and the crash of a hijacked plane in Pennsylvania.

“The aviation defendants controlled who came onto the planes and what was carried aboard. They had the obligation to take reasonable care in screening,” he wrote.

The decision involved the cases of about 70 people injured or killed in the attacks.

The defendants — American and United airlines, the Boeing Co. and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey — had sought dismissal of the lawsuits, saying they had no duty to anticipate and guard against deliberate, suicidal aircraft crashes and that any potential negligence on their part did not cause deaths and injuries.

In his ruling, Judge Hellerstein said that while terrorists previously had never deliberately flown airplanes into buildings, “airlines reasonably could foresee that crashes causing death and destruction on the ground were a hazard that would arise should hijackers take control of a plane.”

“The intrusion by terrorists into the cockpit, coupled with the volatility of a hijacking situation, creates a foreseeable risk that hijacked airplanes might crash, jeopardizing innocent lives on the ground as well as in the airplane,” he added.

As for the Port Authority, which owns the World Trade Center property, the judge said it “has not shown that it will prove its defense of governmental immunity.” He said the plaintiffs have a right to argue the Port Authority did not provide a “safe environment.”

Judge Hellerstein was appointed by President Clinton in 1998.

The Port Authority also operates Newark International Airport in New Jersey, the departure point for United Flight 93, the San Francisco-bound jetliner that crashed in Shanksville, Pa., on September 11, 2001.

As a result of the ruling, court officials were preparing for a rush of lawsuits as early as this week as some people choose litigation over the federal victims compensation fund. To receive a payout from the fund, families must agree not to sue airlines or other entities.

Dec. 22 is the last day families may apply to the compensation fund, created by Congress to provide aid to the families of those killed or injured in the attacks, and to protect the aviation industry from crippling litigation.

About 2,275 compensation fund claims have been filed. Roughly 1,700 eligible families have not decided whether to enroll with the fund or file a lawsuit.

The average fund payout has been about $1.5 million, with the highest award $6.8 million. The minimum payout is $250,000.

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