September 11 claims must go to one court
Publish date: 28 July 2005
Issue Number: 1387
Diary: Legalbrief Today
Category: General
A Federal Appeals Court in New York has ruled that thousands of lawsuits alleging respiratory injuries by firefighters, police officers and other workers in cleaning up the contaminated debris of the World Trade Centre after the September 11 terrorist attack will all be tried in Federal District Court in Manhattan.
The New York Times reports the court ruled that Congress had pre-empted state law remedies for damages and that one federal court, not both state and federal courts, should hear the claims, regardless of where or when the exposure to the debris occurred. The Appeals Court also struck down a lower court ruling that had limited federal jurisdiction to claims of exposure at ground zero on or before September 29, 2001, when the search for victims was ended and recovery operations begun. Full report in The New York Times
