Airlines Were
Protected from 9/11
Suits, But Folks on
the Ground at WTC
Got Shortchanged
NY Daily News
3/16/10
Just
11 days after the
attack on the World
Trade Center, when
the ruins were still
smoldering and we
were just beginning
to recover our dead,
Congress rushed to
protect the airlines
from being sued.
That's right.
Congress saw the
footage of the
hijacked airliners
flying into the
towers and those
poor trapped souls
jumping and
thousands more
pulverized by the
twin collapses and
one of its foremost
concerns was this:
"The families might
sue the airlines!"
The airlines must
have been all the
more concerned
because they had for
decades been
resisting advice to
secure the cockpits
against intruders.
El Al had done so
and nobody ever
commandeered one of
their planes.
The American
carriers had decided
it would cost too
much money, and the
result was 9/11. The
airlines would have
faced billions in
suits had their
friends in Congress
not quickly pushed
through the Air
Transportation
Safety and
Stabilization Act.
What should have
been called the
Airline Protection
Act barred 9/11
victims and their
survivors from suing
the airlines.
Instead, people
would seek what they
needed at a
September 11 Victim
Compensation Fund
that the act
established to make
the whole thing
politically viable.
As it happened, it
all worked out for
the best.
The fund proved to
be responsive and
efficient and fair.
And, lest you think
badly of all
lawyers, hundreds of
them volunteered to
assist free of
charge. They were
called "attorneys of
mercy" with
absolutely no irony.
Then the fund
expired in 2003.
Mayor Bloomberg
pressed Congress to
revive it.
The city's
representatives in
Washington did their
best.
But it was not like
a big special
interest like the
airlines was in
jeopardy.
It was just a bunch
of New York cops and
firefighters and
construction workers
suffering illnesses
as varied as the
toxins in The Pit.
And there was no
longer any political
necessity to protect
them.
So the effort to
revive the victim
fund went nowhere.
Instead, Congress
allocated $1 billion
for the city and its
contractors to
resolve the suits
that were now the
victims' only
redress.
The defense was led
by the firm Patton
Boggs, whose home
page has the words
"POWER BASE" in huge
letters. The firm's
head "toxic tort"
guy, James Tyrrell,
once represented the
manufacturer of
Agent Orange in a
suit involving 2.4
million Vietnam war
veterans. He has
also defended the
makers of defective
breast implants and
of a pregnancy drug
that gave women
cancer.
The total defense
bill in this 9/11
case has exceeded
$200 million. There
have been reports of
hourly fees
exceeding $580 and a
"business dinner"
tab of as much as
$1,250.
The plaintiffs'
lawyers are working
with no guarantee of
payment but figure
it would be only
right to take a
third of the $575
million to $657
million settlement
proposed last week,
plus expenses, of
course.
Compare all that to
the "attorneys of
mercy" during the
Victim Fund, back in
that time when an
attack of pure evil
brought out the very
best in us.
If Congress wants to
bring some of that
goodness back, it
can still revive the
fund.
We could call them
politicians of
mercy.
Hey, and the
airlines will still
be protected.
mdaly@nydailynews.com
