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On Friday, January 17, 2003, American Airlines and a number of other aviation
companies that faced lawsuits resulting from the September 11, 2001 attacks
on the World Trade Center and Pentagon filed motions to dismiss many of the
lawsuits.
United Airlines also supports the motion to dismiss the complaints of ground
victims that is being filed by the aviation defendants today. As a result of
United's commencement of its bankruptcy case and the resultant automatic
stay of all actions against United as mandated by Section 362 of the Bankruptcy Code, United cannot at this time be a party to the aviation
defendants' motion to dismiss. If the Bankruptcy Court modifies the stay and
allows these cases to proceed against United (such that United may resume
active participation in them), United expects that it would then wish to join in
the aviation defendants' motion to dismiss.
The motions filed with federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein in United States District
Court for the Southern District of New York sought the dismissal of lawsuits
filed by individuals or businesses that suffered injuries or property damage on
the ground, after the terrorists seized control of the airplanes, including
lawsuits by individuals or businesses at the World Trade Center site. The
motion does not ask for the dismissal of any lawsuits filed by any of the
passengers who were aboard the aircraft.
Many people suffered horrible injury, death and loss of property as a result of
the events of September 11, 2001. This motion argues that the duty of the
airlines, the airports, the security companies and others did not extend to
preventing terrorists from seizing control of the four aircraft involved and
deliberately using them as weapons of mass destruction to life and property
on the ground.
As the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stated publicly last week, before
the September 11 terrorist attacks, no one had envisioned a terrorist taking
control of a commercial aircraft and successfully using that aircraft as a
weapon. |
