Personal Injury Blog

Family of 9/11 Victim May Be Allowed to Pursue Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against United Airlines

August 2nd, 2011
United Airlines accident

United Airlines plane hit the World Trade Center on 11/9

The family of a passenger who died in the United Airlines accident on one of the ill-fated planes that struck the World Trade Center on September 11 could be allowed to proceed with their wrongful death lawsuit against several defendants, including United Airlines.  A judge, who is hearing the case, has said that he is likely to allow the family to seek damages.

Mark Bavis was on United Airlines Flight 175, which was the second plane to hit the World Trade Center on that day.  Since his death, his family has fought for the right to file a wrongful death lawsuit not only for his death, but also for his terror, just before the plane crashed into the Twin Towers.  The lawsuit was filed nearly 10 years ago, and if allowed to proceed, will be the only wrongful death lawsuit from the September 11 attacks to proceed to trial.  A judge in a New York federal court has said that he is likely to allow Bavis’s mother to seek wrongful death damages from United Airlines.  The airline has been strongly opposed to any such lawsuit, saying that she is not eligible for any damages under Massachusetts law.

Thousands of people have received millions of dollars in damages after they lost family members in the September 11 attacks.  About 100 families have filed lawsuits, and those cases have settled for about $500 million.  Bavis’s family had held out, not accepting compensation.  According to the family, they had never considered settling as one of their options.

According to their lawsuit, the hijacking only occurred because of the failure of United Airlines and the airline security firm that was responsible for screenings.  The hijackers who boarded Flight 175 in Boston were able to do so because of these failures.  According to the judge, the plaintiff will have to prove that the hijackers were able to get their weapons on board through screening.

The lawsuit also mentions a third defendant, the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates the Logan International Airport in Boston from where the flight originated.  However, the judge dismissed the suit against this defendant.

It’s interesting to see how lawyers in this case have chosen to define the damages.  According to the lawyers for the family, they’re using a number of incidents to define the kind of terror that passengers on the plane felt in the minutes before the crash.  They’re pointing to phone calls that passengers on the plane made to loved ones on the ground.  They’re also using expert analysis of the final moments of United Airlines Flight 175, including the terror experienced by passengers as the plane lurched and jumped towards its awful end.  The plane was headed to the ground at a high rate of descent, and in an erratic flight pattern, compounding the trauma of the passengers who were being thrown about in their last moments.

 

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