On the day before the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, insurers for some World Trade Center buildings sued American Airlines, United Airlines and others, alleging their negligence allowed the deadly hijackings.
The suit, which was filed by London’s QBE International Insurance and certain underwriters at Lloyd’s of London , seeks over $300 million from each of the two airlines and various amounts from other defendants. The insurers want to recover monies they paid out for property damage and other losses caused to World Trade Center buildings 1, 2, 4 and 5 and nearby structures.
The case is among a number of Sept. 11-related suits filed recently in Manhattan federal court to meet the three-year statute of limitations deadline Saturday. Among defendants in the case are the airlines’ parents AMR Corp. and UAL Corp.
A spokesman for American said he could not comment on specifics in the suit, but said it was not unexpected and that similar cases have previously been filed. United said it does not comment on pending litigation.
Paul Butler, a Florida lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said he expects the lawsuit will be consolidated with a master case that has been pending in the court for about a year and one half. Last year, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein refused to dismiss the master case brought against airlines, airport security firms, the World Trade Center owners and others by people injured in the attacks, representatives of those who died and entities that suffered property damage.
Butler said his clients’ suit is being brought under the Air Transportation Act, passed after Sept. 11, 2001, which limits the liability of airlines, plane manufacturers and airports to the amount of their insurance coverage.
“Therefore, this lawsuit is basically about insurance companies who paid losses litigating over liability insurance proceeds,” Butler said. “For our clients it’s basically insurer versus insurer.”
On Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers penetrated security at Boston’s Logan airport and flew American Flight 11 and United Flight 175 to Manhattan, crashing the aircraft into the World Trade Center and causing its two towers to collapse.
Among other defendants named in the suit are Boeing Co. , Pinkerton’s Inc. , ICTS International NV and US Airways Group .On the day before the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, insurers for some World Trade Center buildings sued American and United Airlines and others alleging their negligence allowed the deadly hijackings.
The suit, which was filed by London's QBE International Insurance and certain underwriters at Lloyd's of London , seeks over $300 million from each of the two airlines and various amounts from other defendants. The insurers want to recover monies they paid out for property damage and other losses caused to World Trade Center buildings 1,2,4 and 5 and nearby structures.
The case is among a number of Sept. 11 related suits filed recently to meet the three-year statute of limitations deadline Saturday. Among defendants in the case are the airlines' parents AMR Corp. and UAL Corp.
United said it does not comment on pending litigation. American did not have an immediate comment.
On Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers penetrated security at Boston's Logan airport and flew American Flight 11 and United Flight 175 to Manhattan crashing the aircraft into the World Trade Center and causing towers One and Two to collapse.
Among other defendants named in the suit are Boeing Co., Pinkerton's Inc., ICTS International NV and US Airways Group.