September 11 Litigation
November 2011
In the history of the United States, one mass disaster is iconic and stands out among all other tragic losses of many lives and property damage arising out of a single, fortuitous or coordinated event: the terrorist attacks conducted on September 11, 2001. Three thousand souls were murdered on that day when 19 jihadists carried out a plan authored by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and hijacked four U.S flag aircraft after departing from Boston, Newark, and Dulles.
Mohamed Atta, Abdul Assiz al-Omari, Waleed al-Shehri, Wail al-Shehri, and Satam al-Suqami hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 after its departure from Boston and crashed it into the World Trade Center South Tower at 9:03 a.m. The South Tower collapsed – minutes later at 9:59 a.m.
Marwan al-Shehhi, Fayez Banihammad, Mohand al-Shehri, Hamza al-Ghamdi, and Ahmed al-Ghamdi hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 after its departure from Boston and crashed it into the World Trade Center North Tower at 8:46 a.m. The North Tower collapsed – minutes later at 10:28 a.m., 29 minutes after the South Tower fell.
Hani Hanjour, Khalid al-Mihdhar, Majed Moqed, Nawaf al-Hazmi, and Salem al-Hazmi hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 after its departure from Washington, D.C. and crashed it into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m.
Ziad Jarrah, Ahmed al-Haznawi, Ahmed al-Nami, and Saeed al-Ghamdi hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 after its departure from Newark and crashed it into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania after passengers (then aware of the other hijackings and crashes) tried to retake control of the aircraft.
US Airways employees at the Portland, Maine International Jetport provided Atta and al-Omari boarding passes and boarded them onto a connecting flight to Logan International Airport in Boston. In Boston, they boarded American Airlines Flight 11. Campbell Trial Lawyers was retained shortly after the terrorist attacks by US Airways and its lead insurer, Global Aerospace, to defend the company and its officers, directors, and employees in the 9/11 Commission investigation and the civil actions that followed the mass disaster (where the plaintiffs alleged that US Airways knew or should have known that Atta and al-Omari were terrorist).
The Hon. Alvin Hellerstein, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, later appointed Attorney Richard Campbell to the Aviation Defendants’ Executive Committee (“ADEC”) as Representative of the “Non-Carrier” Airlines Group. Campbell Trial Lawyers successfully obtained summary judgment and a dismissal with prejudice for all claims against US Airways arising out of the hijacking of United Flight 175. And, over the course of 10 years of intensive litigation with the final claim near its end, US Airways has not contributed a single dollar to the resolution of any claim.